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United States Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (April 18, 2023)

Summary

A letter dated April 18, 2023 from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, to the Honorable Michael F. Rice, Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Michigan Department of Education. The letter states that the Department received Michigan's written plan for a reasonable level of tolerance when calculating whether MDE met State maintenance of equity requirements under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, applying only to a subset of local educational agencies. It states that MDE considers LEAs with a membership of fewer than 400 students very small and that Michigan has 230 very small LEAs serving 3.1 percent of its students. It states that MDE proposes a tolerance of up to a 5 percent decline.

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“United States Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (April 18, 2023).” Original at www.ed.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/ppr-int-e5abfca7b6308d76-4-18-2023-used-response-to-tolerance-proposal-0c0376f0f7/, SHA-256 48a0759467d3bd2e661afc0d945dbc02f33a52b73561bf403a204d7f80b3ad7c.

Full text

                           UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
                                OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION




                                                     April 18, 2023

The Honorable Michael F. Rice
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Michigan Department of Education
608 West Allegan Street
Lansing, MI 48909

Dear Superintendent Rice:

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

MDE considers LEAs with a membership of fewer than 400 students to be very small. Under this
proposed threshold, Michigan has 230 very small LEAs that serve 3.1 percent of Michigan’s
students. MDE asserts that calculated per-pupil funding amounts for these very small LEAs are
significantly affected by small changes in attendance rates and students’ educational needs. This
makes the per-pupil funding amounts in Michigan’s very small LEAs an imperfect indicator of
whether the SEA has achieved the intent of maintaining equity in funding across LEAs. For its
230 very small LEAs, MDE proposes to implement a tolerance of up to a 5 percent decline in
                                400 MARYLAND AVE. SW, WASHINGTON, DC 20202
                                               www.ed.gov

   The Department of Education’s mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by
                               fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access
per-pupil funding. Applying this tolerance would impact two very small LEAs in FY 2022 that
served 0.02 percent of Michigan’s students.

After reviewing MDE’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 Michigan has maintained equity for
very small LEAs.

We appreciate your diligence in developing this proposal. If you have any questions, please
contact your program officer at: Michigan.OESE@ed.gov.

                                             Sincerely
aura Jimenez
                                             Laura Jimenez

                                             Laura Jimenez
                                             Director, Office of State and Grantee Relations

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ppr-int-e5abfca7b6308d76-4-18-2023-USED-Response-to-Tolerance-Proposal-Letter-FY22-9b8fce6771.pdf
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Original
www.ed.gov
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