The Secretary of Education to Jeff Martello, Chief Operating Officer — Woodford County Public Schools

Summary

A letter dated February 1, 2022 from the Secretary of Education to Jeff Martello, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Finance of Woodford County Public Schools. It responds to the district's December 16, 2021 request for an exception to the requirement to maintain equity in its high-poverty schools in fiscal year 2022. The Department concurs that staffing changes at Woodford Middle School that reduced per-pupil spending are an uncontrollable circumstance, and treats the flooding of the school gym at Simmons Elementary School as an uncontrollable circumstance and a one-time expenditure that would be excluded from the calculations. The letter notes the request may be unnecessary if there was no aggregate reduction in funding.

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Issuer: Congressional materials
Document type: Department Of Education Pdf Www Ed Gov A1B58Abedd
Case: Department Of Education Pdf Www Ed Gov A1B58Abedd

Cite this document

“The Secretary of Education to Jeff Martello, Chief Operating Officer — Woodford County Public Schools.” Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/department-of-education-pdf-www-ed-gov-a1b58abedd/, SHA-256 b75e2295f12fc42047147223e7a8309387bf5402f7b5f03d319e6fa3db3be97d.

Full text

                                   THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
                                          WASHINGTON, DC 20202



                                             February 1, 2022

Jeff Martello
Chief Operating Officer & Director of Finance
Woodford County Public Schools
330 Pisgah Pike
Versailles, KY 40383


Dear Mr. Martello:
Thank you for submitting to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) your request for an
exception to the requirement that Woodford County Public Schools maintain equity in its high-poverty
schools in fiscal year (FY) 2022. Please note that if Woodford County Public Schools did not have an
aggregate reduction in combined State and local per-pupil funding in FY 2022, Woodford County Public
Schools has demonstrated an exceptional or uncontrollable circumstance which renders this request
unnecessary, as detailed in Question 32 of Frequently Asked Questions, American Rescue Plan
Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Program, Maintenance of Equity Requirements,
December 29, 2021.
As you know, section 2004(c)(2) of the American Rescue Plan Act outlines that a local educational
agency (LEA) need not maintain equity if the LEA “demonstrates an exceptional or uncontrollable
circumstance, such as unpredictable changes in student enrollment or a precipitous decline in the financial
resources of [the LEA], as determined by the Secretary.” An “exceptional or uncontrollable
circumstance” might include increased one-time expenditures in the baseline year (school year 2020-
2021) due to the pandemic, a very small school where the maintenance of equity calculations do not result
in meaningful information about resource availability, or a significant change in the expenses of a school
that no longer serves a student whose educational and support needs required services that have a
particularly high cost. Each request for an exception requires a case-by-case review by the Department.

On December 16, 2021, the Department received your request for an exception to the maintenance of
equity requirement for your high-poverty schools in FY 2022. According to the materials you provided,
you request an exception because there was an unpredictable change in student enrollment in Woodford
Middle School. After reviewing your request, we concur that the staffing changes at Woodford Middle
School, the only middle school in the LEA, that resulted in decreased per-pupil spending is an
uncontrollable circumstance.
In the case of Simmons Elementary School, you also request an exception because of a precipitous
decline in financial resources. After reviewing this request, we consider the flooding of the school gym at
Simmons to be an uncontrollable circumstance. Furthermore, the expenditure related to this flood appears
to be a one-time expenditure that would be excluded from maintenance of equity calculations. (See
Frequently Asked Questions, American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief
Program, Maintenance of Equity Requirements, December 29, 2021, Question 26). Accordingly,
Woodford County Public Schools is excepted from the local maintenance of equity requirements for
FY 2022.
Thank you again for reaching out to the Department and for your ongoing commitment to maintaining
equity. If you have any questions, please contact the Kentucky state mailbox
at: Kentucky.OESE@ed.gov.

                                              Sincerely,

                                              Laura Jimenez


                                              Laura Jimenez
                                              Director, Office of State and Grantee Relations
                                              Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
                                              United States Department of Education


CC: The Honorable Jason Glass
Commissioner of Education
Kentucky Department of Education
300 Sower Boulevard, Fifth Floor
Frankfort, KY 40601

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