Georgia — United States Department of Education to the Honorable Richard Woods (July 11, 2023)

Summary

This is a letter dated July 11, 2023 from the United States Department of Education to Richard Woods, Superintendent of Education at the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). The letter states that the Department received GaDOE's written plan for a reasonable level of tolerance when calculating whether Georgia met State maintenance of equity requirements for a subset of its local educational agencies. It describes GaDOE's proposal of three tolerance levels, including a 12.1 percent reduction in per-pupil funding for LEAs with 200 or fewer students and an 18 percent reduction for State charter school LEAs with 575 or fewer students. It states that the Department determined the approach includes a reasonable level of tolerance for small LEAs in fiscal years 2022 and 2023, and that Georgia may need to make additional payments to some LEAs.

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Full text

                      UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


                                          July 11, 2023

The Honorable Richard Woods
Superintendent of Education
Georgia Department of Education
205 Jessie Hill, Jr. Drive, S.E.
Atlanta, GA 30334

Dear Superintendent Woods:

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

According to materials provided by GaDOE, Georgia’s funding formula includes a base
allocation for all students as well as categorical, weighted funding for students who require
additional services. In the context of these funding weights, GaDOE asserts that calculated per-
pupil funding amounts for small LEAs are significantly affected by small changes in student
population. This makes the per-pupil funding amounts in Georgia’s small LEAs an imperfect
indicator of whether the SEA has achieved the intent of maintaining equity in funding across
LEAs. GaDOE also asserts that per-pupil amounts at State charter schools, which operate as
LEAs, are even more affected given their open enrollment requirements that contribute to even
greater student enrollment fluctuations.

Accordingly, GaDOE proposes three tolerance levels:
       1) For LEAs with 200 or fewer students, GaDOE proposes to tolerate a 12.1 percent
          reduction in per-pupil funding from year to year. This would impact two small LEAs
          identified by the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-poverty in FY
          2022 that served 0.0002 percent of Georgia’s students.
       2) For LEAs with 201 to 1,100 students, GaDOE proposes to tolerate a 6.5 percent
          reduction in per-pupil funding from year to year. This would impact nine small LEAs
          identified by the State as meeting the definition of high-need or highest-poverty in FY
          2022 that served 0.003 percent of Georgia’s students.
       3) For State charter school LEAs with 575 or fewer students, GaDOE proposes to
          tolerate an 18 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 0.007 percent of Georgia’s students.

After reviewing GaDOE’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 Georgia has maintained equity
for small LEAs in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

Data provided by GaDOE indicates that Georgia may need to make additional payments to LEAs
that experienced a disproportionate reduction in per-pupil funding in FY 2022 and that are not
captured by this small LEA tolerance approval. Please advise the Department as additional
payments are been made.

We appreciate your diligence in developing this proposal. If you have any questions, please
contact your program officer at: Georgia.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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