Letter to the Vermont Agency of Education — Reasonable Level of Tolerance (July 26, 2023)

Summary

A letter dated July 26, 2023, from the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to Interim Secretary of Education Bouchey of the Vermont Agency of Education, responding to its written plan for a reasonable level of tolerance under State maintenance of equity requirements. It reports that Vermont has six small LEAs out of 51 statewide, defined as memberships of fewer than 800 students, and a proposed tolerance of up to a 5 percent decline in per-pupil funding. It states the tolerance would impact one small LEA and that the Department determined the approach reasonable.

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Issuer: Congressional materials
Document type: Department Of Education 7 26 2023 Used Response To Tolerance Proposal Fy22 Www Ed Gov 526D
Case: Department Of Education 7 26 2023 Used Response To Tolerance Proposal Fy22 Www Ed Gov 526D12Da4F

Cite this document

“Letter to the Vermont Agency of Education — Reasonable Level of Tolerance (July 26, 2023).” Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/department-of-education-7-26-2023-used-response-to-tolerance-proposal-fy22-www-ed-gov-526d12da4f/, SHA-256 0e95297d6a0638e6220607b472bdb68248fd4a534b577d10ac1f940fce5c64af.

Full text

                           UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
                                OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION




                                                    July 26, 2023

The Honorable Heather Bouchey
Interim Secretary of Education
Vermont Agency of Education
1 National Life Drive, Davis 5
Montpelier, VT 05620

Dear Secretary Bouchey:

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

VTAOE considers LEAs with memberships of fewer than 800 students to be small. Under this
proposed threshold, Vermont has six small LEAs out of 51 statewide. VTAOE 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 per-pupil funding
amounts in Vermont’s small LEAs an imperfect indicator of whether the SEA has achieved the
intent of maintaining equity in funding across LEAs. For its six small LEAs, VTAOE proposes
to implement a tolerance of up to a 5 percent decline in per-pupil funding. Applying this

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   The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by
                               fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access
tolerance would impact one small LEA that the SEA identified as meeting the definition of high-
need or highest-poverty in FY 2022 and that served 0.5 percent of Vermont’s students.

After reviewing VTAOE’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 Vermont 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: Vermont.OESE@ed.gov.

                                                  Sincerely,
aura Jimenez
                                                  Laura Jimenez

                                                  Laura Jimenez
                                                  Laura Jimenez
                                                  Director, Office of State and Grantee Relations

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Our copy: department-of-education-7-26-2023-used-response-to-tolerance-proposal-fy22-www-ed-gov-526d12da4f.pdf
Original: www.ed.gov