The Secretary of Education — Dear Commissioner (January 2021)

Summary

A letter from the Secretary of Education dated January XX, 2021 and addressed to a State Commissioner, with blanks for the name, State and amount. It says the Department awarded more than $13 billion last spring through the ESSER Fund authorized by the CARES Act, and that on December 27, 2020 President Trump signed Public Law 116-260, which provides an additional $54.3 billion for an ESSER II Fund. It announces an additional $XX,XXX,XXX in ESSER II funds to the State, more than four times the initial awards, to help reopen schools safely and address learning loss. The letter says no further application is needed and urges use of the funds to reopen all elementary and secondary schools.

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                                              THE SECRETARY OF
                                                 EDUCATION
                                              WASHINGTON, DC 20202




                                              January XX, 2021


Dear [Commissioner] XXXXX:

Thank you for all you continue to do to address the needs of students and families during the COVID-19
pandemic. Your efforts have been critical to ensuring that learning continues for all students as your State
faces unprecedented education challenges.

As you know, the U.S. Department of Education awarded more than $13 billion last spring in assistance
to elementary and secondary schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
(ESSER) Fund authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. On
December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental
Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law 116-260, which provides an additional $54.3 billion for an ESSER
II Fund.

Today, the Department is announcing an additional $XX,XXX,XXX in ESSER II funds to [State]. This
new funding—more than four times the initial awards to State educational agencies under the CARES
Act—is intended to help States and school districts safely reopen schools, measure and effectively
address significant learning loss, and take other actions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the
students and families who depend on our K-12 schools.

Consistent with Congressional intent to provide new funding quickly and with minimal administrative
burden, you are not required to submit an additional application to receive your ESSER II award. Within
the next three days, you will receive a Grant Award Notification (GAN) through the federal grants
management system (G5), which provides the ESSER II grant award and details its terms and conditions.

Although the ESSER II uses of funds are similar to those for ESSER, there are important distinctions
between the ESSER II and ESSER programs, including the period of funds availability, equitable services
to non-public schools, maintenance of effort, and a report on efforts to measure and address learning loss.
You should plan to use all remaining ESSER funds before making use of the ESSER II funds, given the
shorter remaining period of availability. Please consult the accompanying fact sheet to learn more about
the ESSER II program.

Once again, I urge you to use the ESSER and ESSER II funding to safely re-open all elementary and
secondary schools as soon as possible, to restore and maintain high-quality learning environments, and to
take comprehensive action to mitigate the unprecedented learning loss that many of our most vulnerable
students have endured. I know these have been extraordinarily challenging times for both educators and
administrators, but we must rise to meet this challenge. Most of our children today would be far better off
in school with in-person instruction. There is no excuse that so many of them are still locked out. Families
and students, particularly our nation’s most vulnerable, are depending on your leadership.
We have enclosed a table that shows State allocations for the ESSER II Fund. These allocations are based
on the proportion of funds that each State received under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 in fiscal year 2020. If you or your staff have questions, please reach out
to us directly or submit questions to your State’s ESSER program officer using your State OESE
Mailbox: [State].oese@ed.gov.

Thank you for your continued leadership on behalf of students in your State.


                                                     Sincerely,


                                                     Betsy DeVos


Enclosures


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