Pennsylvania — United States Department of Education to the Honorable Khalid N. Mumin (May 19, 2023)

Summary

A letter dated May 19, 2023 from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, signed by Laura Jimenez, to Secretary Khalid N. Mumin of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It responds to Pennsylvania's written plan for a reasonable level of tolerance in calculating maintenance of equity under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The State treats districts with fewer than 910 students as small, counts 71 of 789 statewide, and proposes a tolerance of up to a 14 percent decline in per-pupil funding, which would affect one small district serving 0.05 percent of students in fiscal year 2022. The Department determines the approach is reasonable.

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                           UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
                                OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION




                                                    May 19, 2023

The Honorable Khalid N. Mumin
Secretary of Education
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street, Tenth Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333

Dear Secretary Mumin:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) received your written plan for a reasonable
level of tolerance when calculating whether the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE)
has met State maintenance of equity requirements under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
(ARP Act). This written plan applies only to a subset of Pennsylvania’s local educational
agencies (LEAs).

The ARP Act State maintenance of equity requirements help ensure that State funding supports
LEAs with high concentrations of poverty and the students who have been subject to
longstanding opportunity gaps in our education system and experienced the greatest impact from
the COVID-19 pandemic. These requirements are vital for ensuring that States maintain funding
to address the impact of the pandemic on students’ education, and for protecting students in high-
need and highest-poverty LEAs from disproportionate cuts if reductions in State effort do occur.

The Department determined that it is consistent with the State maintenance of equity
requirements to allow a State educational agency (SEA) to calculate whether it has maintained
funding equity with respect to its very small high-need and highest-poverty LEAs within a
reasonable “tolerance level.” The Department’s determination is based on the possibility of
significant volatility in the calculated per-pupil funding amounts for very small LEAs caused by
small changes in student enrollment, which may be unrelated to whether an SEA has achieved
the intent of the requirements. (See Frequently Asked Questions, American Rescue Plan
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Program, Maintenance of Equity
Requirements, July 26, 2022, Question 21(a).)

PDE considers LEAs with a membership of fewer than 910 students to be small. Under this
proposed threshold, Pennsylvania has 71 small LEAs out of 789 statewide. PDE asserts that
calculated per-pupil funding amounts for these small LEAs are significantly affected by minor
changes in attendance rates and students’ educational needs. This makes the per-pupil funding
amounts in Pennsylvania’s small LEAs an imperfect indicator of whether the SEA has achieved
the intent of maintaining equity in funding across LEAs. For its 71 small LEAs, PDE proposes to
implement a tolerance of up to a 14 percent decline in per-pupil funding. Applying this tolerance
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would impact one small LEA that the State identified as meeting the definition of high-need or
highest-poverty in FY 2022 that served 0.05 percent of Pennsylvania’s students.

After reviewing PDE’s tolerance proposal and accompanying data, the unique circumstances in
the State, and our further State-specific analysis, we have determined that this approach includes
a reasonable level of tolerance when calculating whether Pennsylvania has maintained equity for
small LEAs.

We appreciate your diligence in developing this proposal. If you have any questions, please
contact your program officer at: Pennsylvania.OESE@ed.gov.

                                                   Sincerely,
aura Jimenez
\                                            L a Laura Jimenez

                                                   Laura Jimenez
                                                   Director, Office of State and Grantee Relations
                                                   Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
                                                   United States Department of Education


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