ARP ESSER Maintenance of Equity

Section 2004 of the ARP Act includes new maintenance of equity provisions that are a condition for State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to receive funds under ARP ESSER.   These provisions are central to ensuring that essential resources are meeting the needs of students who have been subject to longstanding opportunity gaps in our education system.

Frequently Asked Questions

On June 9, 2021, the Department released maintenance of equity guidance, which the Department updated on December 29, 2021 and January 23, 2023. The Department updated Appendix A on July 26, 2022. The updated guidance is available here.

The Secretary’s August 6, 2021 letter to chief state school officers and school districts superintendents is available here.

LEA-Level Maintenance of Equity

On October 12, 2021, the Department released additional information for LEAs about the process for submitting an exception request for FY 2022 maintenance of equity determinations. That information is available here and here.

On Friday, October 1, 2021, the Department submitted the following documents for publication in the Federal Register: 1) Notice of Proposed Requirements (NPR) that proposes a requirement that SEAs publish LEAs’ maintenance of equity data on their websites; 2) Request for Information (RFI) to help inform the Department’s support for SEAs and LEAs in implementing the MOEquity provisions. Following public comment, on December 29, 2021, the Department submitted the following Notice of Proposed Requirements (NPR) document for publication in the Federal Register.

On June 2, 2022, the Department submitted a Notice of Final Requirement (NFR) for publication in the Federal Register regarding the LEA-level maintenance of equity provisions under section 2004(c) of the ARP Act. This NFR establishes requirements for publishing LEA-level maintenance of equity data to demonstrate that LEAs are maintaining both fiscal and staffing equity in fiscal years 2022 and 2023. SEAs will be required to publish the following information on their website:

• July 8, 2022 – SEAs publish LEA exceptions and identify high-poverty schools for FY 2022 and describe how the SEA will ensure that each LEA that is not excepted from the LEA-level maintenance of equity requirements is maintaining equity in its high-poverty schools.
• November 1, 2022 – SEAs publish LEA exceptions and identify high-poverty schools for FY 2023
• December 31, 2022 – SEAs publish applicable LEA high-poverty school data for FY 2022
• July 31, 2023 – Deadline for SEAs to provide final FY 2023 data to the Department
• December 31, 2023 – SEAs publish applicable LEA high-poverty school data for FY 2023

Maintenance of Equity Data

Data will be posted in the maintenance of equity data table as they are received.

SEA-Level Maintenance of Equity Data

Appendix A of the maintenance of equity guidance includes information on baseline and initial data that each SEA was required to submit by July 30, 2021, for FY 2022. To the extent that FY 2022 funding data are not available, an SEA may provide for projected data or request an extension to provide the data that are not currently available by October 15, 2021. For the purposes of maintaining equity for FY 2023, each State must update their original MOEquity data submission to include baseline and initial FY 2023 data by July 29, 2022. To the extent that FY 2023 funding data are not available, an SEA may provide projected data or request an extension to provide the data that are not currently available by October 14, 2022.

LEA-Level Maintenance of Equity Data

SEAs are required to publish LEA exceptions and identify high-poverty schools and applicable LEA high-poverty school data for FY 2022 and FY 2023. SEAs are also required to describe how the SEA will ensure that each LEA that is not excepted from the LEA-level maintenance of equity requirements is maintaining equity in its high-poverty schools.

On January 23, 2023, the Department released a Maintenance of Equity LEA-level staffing equity data template, available here.

* Accessibility: The Department places a high priority on posting documents on its website that meet the accessibility standards established by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and is working diligently to ensure that those standards are met by all documents posted on this page. If you experience problems with the accessibility of any of these materials, and need them in an alternative format, please contact OESE’s Office of State and Grantee Relations at SGR@ed.gov or (202) 453-5563. Please be specific in your request about the information you need, which may include identifying MOEquity data from a specific State.

American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief

• Maintenance of Equity