Key Terms
ARP ESSER — American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief. Funding may be used for pre-award costs dating back to March 13, 2020, when the national emergency was declared and is available for obligation by SEAs and subrecipients through September 30, 2024 (with the Tydings Amendment).
eGrants — PDE's eGrants is a grants management system that offers licensed education agencies and community-based programs a way to access grant applications online.
ESSER I — The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund was established by Section 18003 of Division B of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Funding may be used for pre-award costs dating back to March 13, 2020, when the national emergency was declared and is available for obligation by state educational agencies (SEAs) and subrecipients through September 30, 2022 (with the Tydings Amendment).
ESSER II — The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief II Fund was established by Section 313 of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act. Funding may be used for pre-award costs dating back to March 13, 2020, when the national emergency was declared and is available for obligation by SEAs and subrecipients through September 30, 2023 (with the Tydings Amendment).
Federal Financial Accountability Transparency Act (FFATA) — Signed on September 26, 2006, this legislation requires that information on federal awards—both federal financial assistance and expenditures—is made available to the public on a single, searchable website. The intent of USA Spending is to allow citizens to hold the government responsible for its spending decisions.
Future Ready Comp Plan Portal (FRCPP) — The Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal was designed to provide a consistent planning framework and collection mechanism for all Pennsylvania LEAs. See guidance on accessing the FRCPP.
High-Need LEAs — LEAs with the highest percentages of economically disadvantaged students and which collectively serve at least 50 percent of the state's total student enrollment within LEAs.
High-Poverty Schools — High-poverty schools are the 25 percent of schools serving the highest percent of economically disadvantaged students in the LEA.
Highest Poverty LEAs — LEAs with the highest percentages of economically disadvantaged students and which collectively serve at least 20 percent of the state's total student enrollment within LEAs.
Maintenance of Effort Provision — Under this provision, states must ensure that in fiscal years 2021–2022 and 2022–2023, they will spend the same proportion of their state budgets on K-12 and higher education as they did on average in fiscal years 2016–2017 through 2018–2019.
Maintenance of Equity Provision for highest poverty LEAs — This provision was designed to prevent funding cuts from disproportionately affecting students in poverty. Under this provision, states are prohibited from cutting per-pupil funding to the highest poverty LEAs for fiscal years 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 below FY 2019 levels.
Maintenance of Equity Provision for high-need LEAs — This provision is also aimed at protecting the most economically disadvantaged students from shouldering the burden of funding cuts. Under this provision, the state is prohibited from cutting per-pupil funds to high-need LEAs by an amount that is more than any overall per-pupil funding cut the state enacts for FYs 2021–2022 and 2022–2023.
Maintenance of Equity Provision for high-poverty schools — At the LEA level, the Maintenance of Equity provision requires that per-pupil funding from state and local sources and staffing levels for high-poverty schools may not be decreased by an amount that exceeds districtwide reductions in per-pupil funding and staffing levels for all schools served by the LEA.
SEA — State education agency.
Tydings Amendment — This amendment allows educational agencies additional time to spend federal monies they receive. The Tydings Amendment was incorporated by Congress into the General Education Provisions Act. Under the amendment, grantees are able to carry-over for one year any funds that were not spent during the grant award period.