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​A Message from the Department

Dear Colleague:

Thank you for your continued efforts to implement Pennsylvania's nearly $5 billion share of the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) Fund.

I know every education leader feels a moral and professional imperative to use these non-recurring resources well. The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is committed to continuing to support you in this work with timely guidance, ongoing technical assistance, and targeted funding flexibilities.

As you work to develop local plans for ARP ESSER funding, please consider three guiding principles:

  1. Evaluate both short- and long-term needs. Counting the Tydings Amendment provision, ARP ESSER funds will be available for obligation until September 2024. Recognizing that this may be the last round of Federal emergency aid, consider how your school entity can sustain these resources over the allowability period and how these funds can interact with other Federal support and Federal funding flexibilities (PDF).

  2. Consult stakeholders. Communication with your staff, parents and families, students, and broader community has been central to your local recovery efforts over the past year. Keep using those lines of communication to assess needs and build consensus around your school entity's use of ARP ESSER funding. These efforts will ensure compliance with the American Rescue Plan Act's Safe Return to In-Person Instruction Plan requirements (PDF), elevate equity considerations in plan development and implementation, and generate evidence that supports the use of ARP ESSER funding for priority school facility repairs and improvements.

  3. Consider the research. Are you receiving a steady stream of suggestions for investing ARP ESSER resources? The best way to evaluate any such proposal is by reviewing it against PDE's Evide​nce Resource Center (ERC)—a customized website, designed by Pennsylvania educators and some of the nation's foremost education scholars. The ERC identifies strategies backed by rigorous research and allows educators to filter these strategies based on Federal evidence tiers, school type or grade level, specific student groups, and other factors. Schools operating under Federal accountability designations, now extended through 2022, will be asked to assure that ARP ESSER plans reflect consultation of the Evidence Resource Center, and I encourage every school leader to do likewise.

After a year of unimaginable challenges, ARP ESSER funding presents a historic opportunity—along with a set of challenges all its own. Using the resources equitably and in a way that balances urgency and sustainability will ask more of each of us. Thank you for continuing to reflect the needs of those you serve in the design of your local plans. I am honored to work alongside you.

Sincerely,

Noe Ortega
Acting Secretary of Education