ED Approves Wisconsin ESSER III Plan

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is pleased to share with you that our state plan for ESSER III funds has been fully approved by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in a letter dated May 2. This plan includes additional ESSER III funds for LEAs and CESAs. DPI knows that you are all involved in deep budget planning for next school year and that these funds are a part of that planning, which is why the State Superintendent and other DPI leaders have been advocating for you and for full approval of this plan with ED. As you know, each LEA has already received its initial ESSER III formula grant. You may notice that your original ESSER III formula grant amount has now changed due to recalculations caused by an LEA choosing to surrender their ESSER III funds.

The final portion of Wisconsin’s state plan that was just approved focused on how Wisconsin will spend its 10 percent state reservation. Federal requirements for spending that 10 percent are as follows:

• 1 percent to be spent on evidence-based summer school programming
• 1 percent to be spent on evidence-based out-of-school time programming
• 5 percent to be spent on evidence-based improvement strategies (EBIS)
• 3 percent to be spent on state emergency needs, including administrative costs

The plan for these funds approved by both Wisconsin Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) and ED is as follows:

• 1 percent to be spent on evidence-based summer school programming given as competitive grants in two rounds, with the first round only open to LEAs eligible for sparsity aid.
• 1 percent to be spent on evidence-based out-of-school time programming given as competitive grants in two rounds, with the first round only open to LEAs eligible for sparsity aid.
• Award funds totaling approximately $67 million to LEAs from the 5 percent portion in a combination floor-ceiling formula that ensures an LEA’s ESSER III allocation of $578/pupil (guaranteeing a minimum ESSER III allocation of $323,074 for LEAs with more than 25 total pupils and guaranteeing an allocation of $200,000 for LEAs with 25 [or less] total pupils). These funds may only be spent by LEAs on EBIS.
• Award funds totaling approximately $37.6 million to LEAs from the 3 percent portion based on the Wisconsin JCF initial in-person instruction hours formula. These funds may be spent by LEAs to plan for, prepare for, or respond to COVID-19.
• Award Lincoln Academy funds in the amount of $781 per pupil from the 3 percent portion.
• Award funds totaling $700,000 each to Syble Hopp and Lakeland schools from the 3 percent portion.
• Award $400,000 to the Wisconsin School for the Deaf and $300,000 to the Wisconsin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired from the 3 percent portion.
• Award a total of $5 million in various reading grants from the 3 percent portion.
• Award $5 million to Graduation Alliance to identify and re-engage chronically absent students from the 5 percent portion.
• Award $5 million in competitive grants to community-based organizations and LEAs for evidence-based out-of-school time programming from the 5 percent portion.
• Reserve $1.2 million from the 3 percent portion for DPI administrative costs.

You can find preliminary amounts of the additional ESSER III funds posted at https://dpi.wi.gov/arp/esser-iii . You may notice that these figures differ from initial projection amounts due to recalculations caused by an LEA choosing to surrender their ESSER III funds.

DPI will contact you when the applications are available in WISEgrants along with the deadlines for completing these applications and budgets.

In the meantime, continue to take advantage of the many resources for ESSER III fund use found at https://dpi.wi.gov/arp/esser-iii.

Please contact essergrants@dpi.wi.gov with any questions.

Thank you for all you continue to do to support each Wisconsin student.

Sincerely,