Dear Superintendent Underly — ARP ESSER State Plan, Wisconsin (December 6, 2021)

Summary

A letter dated December 6, 2021 from the Secretary of Education to Jill Underly, Superintendent of Public Instruction, of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction approving Wisconsin's American Rescue Plan ESSER State plan and releasing the remaining one-third of the State's allocation, except as described. It says Section D.1 of the plan will require revision because on June 3, 2021 the Joint Committee on Finance directed the Department to exclude districts that provided in-person instruction for less than 50 percent of their hours in 2020-2021 from benefit under funds reserved under section 2001(f)(1). The Department calls that exclusion inconsistent with the ARP Act.

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Issuer: Congressional materials
Document type: Department Of Education Pdf Www Ed Gov 698Cf16668
Case: Department Of Education Pdf Www Ed Gov 698Cf16668

Cite this document

“Dear Superintendent Underly — ARP ESSER State Plan, Wisconsin (December 6, 2021).” Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/department-of-education-pdf-www-ed-gov-698cf16668/, SHA-256 7ece096442ddc46228116e02f0d37be0edcf9e5ddba32897e7f8e6918639f8a1.

Full text

                                       THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
                                             WASHINGTON, DC 20202




                                               December 6, 2021


The Honorable Jill Underly
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
125 South Webster Street
Madison, WI 53707-7841

Dear Superintendent Underly:

I am pleased to approve Wisconsin’s American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School
Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) State plan. This plan, together with the unprecedented funding
available under ARP ESSER, will help ensure that districts and schools in your State can
continue to reopen safely; support sustained access to in-person instruction; and address the
social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs of students due to the impact of the
coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), particularly those students most impacted by the pandemic.

Except as described below, Wisconsin’s plan is consistent with all ARP ESSER statutory and
regulatory requirements and addresses all of the ARP ESSER State plan elements. This letter,
along with Wisconsin’s approved ARP ESSER State plan, will be posted on the U.S. Department
of Education’s (Department’s) website, and the Department will immediately release the
remaining one-third of your State’s ARP ESSER allocation.

As we alerted you in our prior technical feedback, Section D.1. of the Wisconsin plan will
require revision. In particular, in its ARP ESSER State plan, a State educational agency (SEA)
must describe how it will use the funds it reserves under section 2001(f)(1) of the ARP Act on
evidence-based interventions to address the academic impact of lost instructional time and must
describe how the interventions it identifies will address the disproportionate impact of COVID-
19 on certain groups of students that have been most impacted by the pandemic. In its ARP
ESSER State plan, Wisconsin describes that, on June 3, 2021, the Wisconsin Joint Committee on
Finance (JCF), under Motion 57, directed the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
(WDPI) to exclude local educational agencies (LEAs) that provided in-person instruction for less
than 50 percent of their total instructional hours during the 2020-2021 school year from
eligibility to receive any benefit from the funds WDPI must reserve under section 2001(f)(1) of
the ARP Act. The SEA has indicated that this directive will explicitly exclude the students who
lost the most in-person instructional time as a result of the pandemic from receiving much-
needed services, conflicting with the ARP Act’s statutory requirement that the State reserve
address the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on certain student subgroups.

Wisconsin’s exclusion of those LEAs that lost the most in-person instructional time in the 2020-
2021 school year is inconsistent with section 2001(f)(1) of the ARP Act. Accordingly, this
approval is conditioned on Wisconsin revising section D.1 of its ARP ESSER State plan,
including to be consistent with the requirement in section 2001(f)(1) of the ARP Act that the
Page 2 – The Honorable Jill Underly


funds be used to address the academic impact of lost instructional time and the disproportionate
impact of the pandemic on certain subgroups of students as required by the ARP Act.

This revision of section D.1 is required before Wisconsin may implement any of the planned
uses of funds described in D.1. The revised Section D.1 must describe how Wisconsin will use
the funds under section 2001(f)(1) to address the academic impact of lost instructional time in a
manner that will not exclude an LEA from eligibility based solely on the LEA’s lack of in-person
instruction in the 2020-2021 school year prior to accessing any portion of this set aside.
Wisconsin must provide, within 30 days of receipt of this letter, an update on meeting this
condition, and additional updates as required by the Department.

In preparing your updated State plan, please contact my staff for further technical assistance on
revising this section to address these and other necessary revisions to section D.1 (e.g., regarding
grants to institutions of higher education for reading coursework).

Further, each State is required to describe in its ARP ESSER State plan how it provided an
opportunity for the public to provide input in the development of the plan, a summary of the
input, and how the SEA took such input into account. WDPI indicates in its ARP ESSER State
plan that because Motion 57 outlined required uses of funds for the State set-aside, the SEA did
not seek public feedback or input on uses of funds. As a result, this approval is conditioned on
WDPI providing the public with an opportunity to provide input on the State’s ARP ESSER
State plan. Within 45 days of receipt of this letter, Wisconsin must amend its ARP ESSER State
plan to describe how it met the requirements in section C.1 of the ARP ESSER State plan
template, including a summary of the input it received from the public and how the SEA took
such input into account.

As part of the ARP ESSER State plan, each State assured that it would provide the
Department the URLs for information related to ARP ESSER requirements. First, by June 21,
2021, each State was required to post publicly on its website, for the most recent time
period available, data on mode of instruction and enrollment for all students, disaggregated
by student subgroups. The State assured that it would provide to the Department the URL(s)
where the public can readily find this data. The Department will follow up separately with you
regarding this requirement, if necessary. Second, your State assured that it would provide to the
Department the URL(s) for the SEA and/or LEA websites where the public can find the LEA
plans for: (a) the safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services; and (b) use of
ARP ESSER funds. Please submit the URL or URLs to the Department via email to
your State mailbox at Wisconsin.OESE@ed.gov.

Please be aware that approval of Wisconsin’s ARP ESSER State plan is not a determination that
all the information included in the State plan complies with Federal civil rights requirements,
including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities
Act, and requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is Wisconsin’s
responsibility to comply with these civil rights requirements.
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The Department is committed to working in partnership with your State so that your ARP
ESSER funds are quickly put to work to ensure students have sustained access to in-person
instruction as well as the comprehensive supports they need to recover fully from the impacts of
the COVID-19 pandemic. As you implement this plan, we expect you to continue meaningfully
engaging with stakeholders and the public and revising your plan, as necessary, to best meet the
needs of students, parents, and educators. Ongoing engagement with all stakeholders is vital to
ensuring that implementation of your plan is transparent, effective, equitable, inclusive, and best
meets the needs of your State. The thoughtful, evidence-based, and timely use of ARP ESSER
funds will have a lasting impact on our Nation’s schools and help to address the inequities in
resources, services, and opportunities available to our students.


                                      Sincerely,



                                      Miguel A. Cardona, Ed.D.

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