Appendix C: MOE Waiver Request — Colorado
Summary
This is Appendix C, an MOE Waiver Request form, completed for the State of Colorado and requesting a waiver of the FY 2021 maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements for elementary and secondary education and for higher education under section 18008 of the CARES Act. It lists State support and overall State spending data for FYs 2017 through 2021, with $4,569,171,395 listed for elementary and secondary education support in FY 2021. In an attached description, Colorado states that FY21 appropriations were based on economic forecasts made in May 2020 that predicted a decrease in revenue of between $2.38 billion and $2.86 billion (-18.2% to -21.0%), and that the General Fund reserve reduction was $467.9 million in FY21. It also states that total employment in Colorado fell from 2,819,000 in February of 2020 to 2,443,200 in April of 2020.
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“Appendix C: MOE Waiver Request — Colorado.”
Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/department-of-education-pdf-www-ed-gov-0100718dbf/
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Appendix C: MOE Waiver Request
This form must be used for the submission of a request for a waiver of the requirements noted below. For assistance,
please contact your State mailbox, which is [State].oese@ed.gov .
State Colorado
On behalf of my State, I request a waiver of the following State maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements for the
following fiscal years:
Please check all that apply:
◻ FY 2020 MOE requirement for elementary and secondary education under section 18008 of the CARES Act.
◻ FY 2020 MOE requirement for higher education under section 18008 of the CARES Act.
■ FY 2021 MOE requirement for elementary and secondary education under section 18008 of the CARES Act.
■ FY 2021 MOE requirement for higher education under section 18008 of the CARES Act.
◻ FY 2022 MOE requirement for elementary and secondary education under section 317(a) of the CRRSA Act and
section 2004(a) of the ARP Act.
◻ FY 2022 MOE requirement for higher education under section 317(a) of the CRRSA Act and section 2004(a) of
the ARP Act.
◻ FY 2023 MOE requirement for elementary and secondary education under section 2004(a) of the ARP Act.
◻ FY 2023 MOE requirement for higher education under section 2004(a) of the ARP Act.
Data for State support and overall State spending
A State must resubmit the baseline data for FYs 2017, 2018, and 2019 (baseline years) as part of this MOE waiver
request. If these baseline data differ from a State’s previously submitted data, please provide a description of the reason
for the change. Additionally, a State must submit MOE data for the years in which it is requesting this waiver.
State support for State support for higher Overall State spending
elementary and secondary education *
education
FY 2017 $4,404,643,308 $858,262,053 $10,259,086,811
FY 2018 $4,418,191,124 $888,734,750 $11,766,617,899
FY 2019 $4,776,326,580 $965,452,138 $13,193,849,610
FY 2020 $4,944,852,642 $1,091,916,907 $13,082,629,964
FY 2021 $4,569,171,395 $594,604,146 $
FY 2022 $ $ $
FY 2023 $ $ $
*For overall State spending, a State may request a waiver based on final allocations or appropriations. For more
information, see FAQ 10.
Additional submission requirements
In an attachment, please provide:
1. A description of the extent to which the State experienced fiscal burdens in preventing, preparing for, and
responding to the coronavirus and an explanation of how those fiscal burdens affected the State’s ability to
maintain fiscal effort (e.g., the status of and any changes to the State’s rainy day fund, whether the State
experienced a decline in revenues, or an increase in other emergency expenses resulting from the
pandemic, such as expenses related to health care, unemployment insurance, or support for small
businesses); and
● FY21 appropriations were based on economic forecasts made in May 2020, predicting dramatic
declines in state revenue. As detailed in Table 1 below, relative to forecasts made in September and
December of 2019 and March of 2020, May forecasts predicted a decrease in revenue of between $2.38
billion and $2.86 billion (-18.2% to -21.0%).1
In response, Colorado’s General Assembly passed legislation to temporarily decrease the statutory
General Fund reserve from 7.25% to 3.07% in FY2020 and 2.86 for FY2021. As shown in Table 2, this
reduced General fund reserves by $467.9 million in FY21.2
● Despite the dramatic decline in expected revenue, Colorado recognized the need for increased spending
on public health given the challenges of combating COVID-19. As shown in Table 3 below, the
FY2019 budget increased both the total amount of funding and the amount of funds from the General
Fund relative to both FY2017 and FY2018 in order to respond to the public health crisis. For FY2020,
public health funding remained at a higher level than in both FY2017 and FY2018.
● As shown in Figure 1, total employment in Colorado fell from 2,819,000 in February of 2020 to
2,443,200 in April of 2020, a decline of over 13%. 3 During the same period, the unemployment rate
more than quadrupled, rising from 2.8% to 12.1% as shown in Figure 2.4
2. Documentation and data supporting the description of the State’s fiscal burdens (e.g., revenue data, appropriation
tables, unemployment statistics, etc.) including any State action that impacted State revenue (e.g., tax increases or
decreases).
Figure 1: Total Employment
1
https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-21apprept_0.pdf pg. I-2
2
https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-21apprept_0.pdf pg. I-7
3
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CONA
4
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/COUR
Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CONA
Figure 2: Unemployment:
Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/COUR
Table 1: Forecasted Revenue
Source: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-21apprept_0.pdf pg. I-2
Table 2: General Fund Reserves:
Source: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-21apprept_0.pdf pg. I-7
Table 3: Appropriations to Department of Public Health
Source: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/fy20-21apprept_0.pdf pg. II-155
3. In addition, in its waiver request, a State should submit information on the relevant factors listed below to support
its request. The Secretary may ask States for additional information after States submit the MOE waiver request
form.
Prior to the pandemic, State support for elementary and secondary education increased every recent fiscal year,
from $4.40 billion in FY2017 to $4.97 billion in FY2020.5 Similarly, state support for higher education increased
every recent fiscal year, from $858.3 million in FY2017 to $1.09 billion in FY2020.6
Due to budget cuts brought on by the previously described forecasted revenue drops, support to higher education
fell to $594,604,146 million in FY2021 and support to education fell to $4,569,171,395. However, Colorado has
prioritized restoring these cuts as our economy has recovered. For FY2022, Colorado will appropriate over $1.2
billion7 to higher education support (a 10% increase from FY2020) and will appropriate $4.62 billion to K-12
5
Level of State support for elementary and secondary education was determined through the sum of the State's Share of Public School
Finance for each fiscal year plus the State's funding for Categorical education programs that occur outside of the School Finance formula
and serve particular groups of students or particular student needs.
6
Level of State support for higher education equals the sum of Need-Based Grants, Work Study, the Fort Lewis College Native American
Tuition Waiver, Tuition Assistance for Career and Technical Education Certificate Programs, College Opportunity Fund stipends,
fee-for-service contracts with state institutions pursuant to Section 23-18- 303, C.R.S., fee-for-service contracts with state institutions for
special education programs, General Fund appropriations for local district college grants, General Fund appropriations for Area Technical
Colleges, nonappropriated revenue from the Tobacco Litigation Settlement Moneys Health Education Fund, and limited gaming tax
revenues distributed pursuant to Section 12-47.1-701.5 (3)(c)(I), C.R.S.
7
Calculated using the same methodology described above.
education support.
Colorado dedicated significant amounts of funds received through the CARES act to higher education. These
funds are not being used to replace existing State commitments to higher education/education. Funds were
primarily dedicated to aiding schools and higher education institutions respond to and mitigate challenges
associated with the pandemic. As demonstrated by the increased funding appropriated to both higher education
and education in FY2021, any remaining funds, as well as additional funding received through ARP, will not be
used to supplant state funding for higher education. Table 4 below shows how funds from the CARES act were
allocated to higher education and education through the Coronavirus Relief Fund, as laid out by Executive Order
D 2020 070.
Table 4: CARES ACT CRF allocations to higher education and education
Amount Department receiving Fiscal Year Funding uses
funds
$37,000,000 Education FY21 Expenditures incurred to respond to
second-order effects of the COVID-19
emergency, in particular the increased number
of at-risk pupils due to the COVID-19-driven
recession.
$510,000,000 Education FY20 Expenditures associated with actions to
facilitate compliance with COVID-19-related
public health measures, including facilitating
distance learning and social distancing for
in-person contact hours, mitigating lost
learning, and the provision of economic
support in connection with the COVID-19
emergency to stimulate the economy by
supporting Colorado’s workforce through
increasing free instructional hours for our
kindergarten through 12th grade education
system.
Department of Education subtotal: 547,000,000
$450,000,000 Higher Education FY20 Expenditures associated with actions to
facilitate compliance with COVID-19-related
public health measures and with the provision
of economic support in connection with the
COVID19 emergency to stimulate the
economy by supporting Colorado’s workforce
through increasing student retention and
completions at state institutions of public
higher education.8
Department of Higher Education subtotal: $450,000,000
Grand Total: $1,002,000
8
Institutions receiving this aid committed to undergraduate tuition raises of no more than 3% for FY21.
2. Documentation and data supporting the description of the State’s fiscal burdens (e.g., revenue data, appropriation
tables, unemployment statistics, etc.) including any State action that impacted State revenue (e.g., tax increases or
decreases).
3. In addition, in its waiver request, a State should submit information on the relevant factors listed below to support
its request. The Secretary may ask States for additional information after States submit the MOE waiver request
form.
In determining whether to grant a State an MOE waiver, the Secretary may consider factors such as:
Has the State increased support for education?
The Department understands that it is possible that a State has maintained or increased overall funding for education and the
proportion of the State budget for education has still declined because of increases in other areas of the budget (e.g., public health). In
these cases, the Secretary may consider:
• Has total State funding for K-12 education and for higher education (calculated separately) increased from the prior fiscal year?
• Has total State funding for K-12 education and for higher education (calculated separately) increased over time (e.g., since
baseline years)?
• Has per-pupil State funding for K-12 education and for higher education (calculated separately) increased from the prior fiscal
year?
• Has per-pupil State funding for K-12 education and for higher education (calculated separately) increased over time (e.g., since
baseline years)?
• Has the State appropriated an increase in State funding for K-12 education and for higher education for future fiscal years?
Are there exceptional circumstances that caused the State to be unable to maintain support for education?
If a State’s support for education declined, the Secretary may consider:
• Are there specific severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the State’s economy that necessitated reductions in support for
elementary and secondary education and for higher education?
• What steps did the State take to avoid and/or minimize such reductions?
• Did the State use Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds awarded by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under
section 9901 of the ARP Act to support elementary and secondary education and higher education?
• How did reductions in support for elementary and secondary education and for higher education compare to other budget
categories?
• Did the State take steps that reduced or will it take steps to proactively reduce its financial resources in a way that impacted or
will impact its ability to meet MOE requirements (e.g., tax changes (and in what context), additional contributions to rainy day
funds)? If so, what was the impact of the reduction (e.g., to what extent were its resources reduced or will its resources be
reduced)?
Has the State used or will it use ESSER, GEER, or Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) funding to replace State
funding for education?
It is important for the Department to understand the State’s use of pandemic-related Federal funds when reviewing a request for a
waiver. The Secretary may therefore consider:
• Will all unallocated ESSER or GEER funds relevant to the waiver be used to provide net new resources to K-12 schools and to
higher education and not be used to replace existing State commitments to K-12 education and to higher education?
• Will all unallocated HEER funds be used to provide net new resources to higher education and not be used to replace existing
State commitments to higher education?
• Has the State previously used any ESSER, GEER, or HEER funds to replace State funding for education?
To the best of my knowledge and belief, all of the information in this MOE data submission are true and correct and the
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failure to submit accurate data may result in liability under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq.; OMB
Guidelines to Agencies on Governmentwide Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement) in 2 CFR part 180, as adopted
and amended as regulations of the Department in 2 CFR part 3485; and 18 USC § 1001, as appropriate, and other
enforcement actions.
Allie Kimmel , GEER State Director 413-575-6332
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Governor or Chief State School Officer or Authorized Representative (Typed or Printed Name) Telephone
7/15/21
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Signature of Governor or Chief State School Officer or Authorized Representative Date
Public Burden Statement
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays
a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1810-0745. Public reporting burden for this
collection of information is estimated to average 2 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources,
gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The obligation to respond to this collection
is required to obtain or retain benefit under section 18008 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act, Division M,
Section 317 of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSA) Act, and Section 2004(a) of the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act) If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate, suggestions for improving this
individual collection, or if you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual form, application or survey, please contact Britt
Jung, Office of State and Grantee Relations, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue,
SW, Washington, DC 20202-6450, email: SGR@ed.gov directly.
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