Arkansas — United States Department of Education to the Honorable Jacob Oliva (June 12, 2023)

Summary

This is a letter dated June 12, 2023 from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the United States Department of Education to Jacob Oliva, Commissioner of Education at the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). The letter states that the Department received ADE's written plan for a reasonable level of tolerance when calculating whether Arkansas met State maintenance of equity requirements for a subset of its local educational agencies. It describes ADE's proposal of three tolerance levels, including a 15 percent reduction in per-pupil funding for LEAs with 350 or fewer students and a 3.75 percent reduction for LEAs with 501 to 1,000 students. It states that the Department determined the approach includes a reasonable level of tolerance for small LEAs.

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                           UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
                             OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION




                                                    June 12, 2023

The Honorable Jacob Oliva
Commissioner of Education
Arkansas Department of Education
Four Capitol Mall, Room 304-A
Little Rock, AR 72201-1071

Dear Commissioner Oliva:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) received your written plan for a reasonable
level of tolerance when calculating whether the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) 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 Arkansas’ 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).)

ADE’s proposal considers LEAs with average daily memberships of 1,000 or fewer students to
be small. ADE asserts that calculated per-pupil funding amounts for small LEAs are significantly
affected by small changes in enrollment rates and students’ educational needs. This makes per-
pupil funding amounts in Arkansas’ small LEAs an imperfect indicator of whether the SEA has
achieved the intent of maintaining equity in funding across LEAs.

Accordingly, ADE proposes three tolerance levels:
                                400 MARYLAND AVE. SW, WASHINGTON, DC 20202
                                               www.ed.gov

   The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by
                               fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access
       1) For LEAs with 350 or fewer students, ADE proposes to tolerate a 15 percent
          reduction in per-pupil funding from year to year. This would impact three small LEAs
          identified by the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-poverty in FY
          2022 that served 0.13 percent of Arkansas’ students.
       2) For LEAs with 351 to 500 students, ADE proposes to tolerate a 5 percent reduction in
          per-pupil funding from year to year. This would impact five small LEAs identified by
          the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-poverty in FY 2022 that
          served 0.43 percent of Arkansas’ students.
       3) For LEAs with 501 to 1,000 students, ADE proposes to tolerate a 3.75 percent
          reduction in per-pupil funding from year to year. This would impact eight small LEAs
          identified by the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-poverty in FY
          2022 that served 1.09 percent of Arkansas’ students.

After reviewing ADE’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 Arkansas 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: Arkansas.OESE@ed.gov.

                                                   Sincerely,
aura Jimenez
                                                   Laura Jimenez

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

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