Federal Programs
Welcome to the Division of Federal Programs. This division administers federal programs and funding to over 570 local education agencies, non-public and charter schools in the amount of $700 million. On this site you can secure information on programs, allocations, request for proposals for grants, and forms.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (ESEA). Developed and passed with strong, bipartisan agreement, ESSA
replaces the No Child Left Behind Act and provides significant flexibility
around federal education policy by shifting authority back to states and
communities.
Please visit the sites listed below to learn more:
ESSA Guidance
Uniform Guidance
Complaint Procedures
Complaint Procedures (PDF)
Allocations
The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), in conjunction
with the State Neglected and Delinquent Advisory Committee, has recently
finished an analysis of the funding formula for Title I Part D (subpart 2) in
the Commonwealth. The results have indicated that an alteration in the
way these resources are allocated is necessary in order to ensure students are
receiving a quality education. The current formula allocates a per-pupil
amount to each child in residential care at least one day in the window of
October 31 through November 29 in a facility completing the appropriate request
for funding. This has the effect of disproportionately allocating
resources to short term and temporary stay facilities. Since these types
of facilities are less likely to have a lasting impact on a child's academic career
in comparison to facilities that are designed for longer stays, PDE will,
beginning with the 2016-17 school year, exclude any child not in residence at
least 15 days in the October-November reporting window for the purpose of
generating a facility's allocation. However, you will still report
on your upcoming 3048 all children in residence at least 1 day, as these
children capture funding for Pennsylvania at the national level. PDE will
simply exclude them on our end when generating facility allocations.
A comparison of what a facility would have received if the new formula was in
place for this year can be found below:
I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank
you for all that you do each day for the students of Pennsylvania. It is
our hope that by taking this action we are taking another step forward in
providing them with a better future.
If you have questions please feel free to contact the
Division of Federal Programs at 717-783-2193.
Pennsylvania Department of Education allocates federal funds from USDE to Local Education Agencies. Below is a listing by school year of the formula allocations that are administered by the Division of Federal Programs.
Census Poverty Data Information:
Federal Program Summaries
This applies to all charter schools as well as the LEAs across the state.
Title I
- Part A, ESEA Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies
- Part A, Reallocation Procedures
- Schoolwide Programs
- Parent Involvement
- Part D, Delinquent Institutions
- Part G, Advanced Placement Test Fee Reduction Program
- Paraprofessional Standards of Quality for Local Assessment Programs
- Part A Improving Teacher Quality State Grants
- Part B Mathematics and Science Partnerships Educational Technology State Grants
Title III Language Acquisition State Grants
Title VI, Part B Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP)
Community Eligibility Provision Effects on Title I School Ranking
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-296) offers local education agencies (LEA) an alternative to collecting household applications in the National School Lunch and National School Breakfast Programs, which eliminates the unnecessary paperwork and frustration that can go along with the process.
Community Eligibility Provision is a reimbursement option for eligible LEAs and schools that wish to offer free meals to all children in high poverty schools. This program is administered via the Division of Food and Nutrition in the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
The adoption of the Community Eligibility Provision will have an effect on other program areas, including the Division of Federal Programs. Title I building rankings may be affected. Several examples are included in the following document.
For further assistance, please contact:
Jesse Fry | Regional Coordinator
Department of Education | Bureau of Teaching & Learning
333 Market Street | Harrisburg, PA 17126
Phone: 717.783.6829 | Fax: 717.787.8634
Monitoring/Consolidated Program Review
Each Local Education Agency (LEA) will be reviewed for its compliance with the regulations governing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act once in a four-year cycle. Due to the Uniform Grants Guidance, the Division of Federal Programs (DFP) is required every year to assess all LEAs using the Subgrantee Risk Assessment (§200.331(b)). Those LEAs that are found to be high and medium risk will be monitored. Categories that can potentially be assessed can include but are not limited to, excessive carryover, late submission of Funding Adjustments, late submission of the Consolidated Application, fiscal monitor findings, program monitoring findings, excessive (five or more) monitor findings, Title I allocation, new Charter School, new personnel – Superintendent, Business Manager, Federal Program
Coordinator, late submission of the Comparability Report, failure to make
Maintenance of Effort (MOE), late submission of the PIMS report. The yearly monitoring cycle runs from January through May of each year. When an LEA is due for a review, they are required to complete a self-assessment, which can be found online at
www.leaderservices.com/fedmonitor with an assigned username and password provided by the Division of Federal Programs.
The monitors conducting these reviews are typically retired
administrators or current practitioners that are hired and trained by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) Division of Federal Programs.
Monitors will use the self-assessments completed by the LEA to verify
compliance of each federal program requirement for Titles IA, ID, IIA, III, VI,
Fiscal and Ed-Flex Waivers. LEAs will have access to their final monitoring
report which is also stored online at www.leaderservices.com/fedmonitor. It can be viewed and printed after logging in with the same assigned username/password. Monitoring cycles are also posted on PDE's website at all times.
Under the Consolidated Monitoring Review Process, every LEA
receiving federal funds will be monitored at least once every four years (with
the exception of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh who are monitored annually)
dependent upon the results of the Subgrantee Risk Assessment, in which high and
medium risk categories will be monitored.
Online Monitoring/Consolidated Review Instrument User Guide