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ESSER III Reading Initiatives

 

Reading Initiative's Information

Under Wisconsin’s Motion 57 and Wisconsin's approved plan for ESSER III American Rescue Plan Act funds were approved for reading initiatives. The funding is made available under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Fund (ESSER III) under the American Rescue Plan Act, the intention of which is to address the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of students most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

These reading initiative grants include:

Literacy Grants for CESAs

Deadline

CESAs who wish to participate in this opportunity must do so by May 15, 2023 on WISEgrants. CESAs choosing to participate will need to submit their first budget in WISEgrants by June 16, 2023. 

Please see Literacy Grants for CESAs- WISEgrants Technical Assistance or email essergrants@dpi.wi.gov with any questions.

Eligible Entities

All CESAs are eligible for funding. There are three grants available and have differing eligibility requirements. 

How to Apply

Each CESA will need to accept or decline each grant allocation by May 15, 2023. Note: each grant is listed separately in WISEgrants. (Leadership in Literacy Institute (ARPA); The Literacy Instruction - Training Expansion of Evidence-based Practices (ARPA); Early Literacy Audit (ARPA)) 

  1. WISEgrants Administrators in each CESA need to assign users to view or edit these new grant applications in WISEgrants. (See the WISEgrants website for assistance.)
  2. Any user with edit rights to these new grants in WISEgrants will need to go to the “Select Fund Management” screen for each grant.
    1. To Accept Funds - Choose to either “Manage Own Funds” or “Select a Third Party Grant Administrator”
    2. To Decline Funds - Choose “Surrender Funds to DPI”

Per Wisconsin Motion 57, any unused funds will be used to fund additional awards for LETRS or other eligible reading training. See additional details about the LETRS award below.

Please see Literacy Grants for CESAs- WISEgrants Technical Assistance or email essergrants@dpi.wi.gov with any questions. 

Voyager Sopris Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) (now offered by Lexia Learning) Grants (or another program endorsed by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction as an Accredited Independent Teacher Training Program)

Deadline

LEAs and CESAs who wish to participate in this first opportunity must choose to do so by July 8, 2022 . After this date, the first round of funds ($2,000,000) will be distributed to LEAs and CESAs who chose to participate. LEAs and CESAs who choose not to participate in this first round or who miss the participation deadline may have an additional opportunity to participate in FY 2022-2023.

Eligible Entities

All LEAs and CESAs are eligible for funding.

Amount

A reimbursement amount of $4,000 is available for each LEA and CESA (the amount is the typical LETRS training or another program endorsed by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction as an Accredited Independent Teacher Training Program cost for one staff person). For those LEAs and CESAs who choose to participate, the funding is available for any eligible training costs that were incurred in FY 2021-2022 as well as future training costs through June 30, 2024. If an agency chooses not to participate in this round of reimbursements, DPI will redistribute the funds to participating LEAs and CESAs who plan to expend more than $4,000 on training.

See the LETRS Reimbursement (EBIS ESSER III) First Round Allocations (FY 22 - FY 24) (Google Sheet) for amounts allocated to participating agencies.

Purpose

These funds reimburse vendor training costs for staff who successfully completed the Voyager Sopris Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) training (now offered by Lexia Learning) or another program endorsed by the Center for Effective Reading Instruction as an Accredited Independent Teacher Training Program.

How to Apply

On June 21, 2022, LEA and CESA WISEgrants Administrators will see a menu item for “LETRS Reimbursement Participation” under their ARPA program menu in WISEgrants (FY 2021-2022). Each agency must indicate whether they plan to participate in the LETRS reimbursement opportunity by Friday, July 8, 2022. If the agency chooses to participate, additional information will be collected on expenses incurred during FY 2021-2022 and planned obligations for FY 2022-2023. Agencies who miss the July 8, 2022, deadline will have another opportunity to participate in FY 2022-2023 if funding becomes available.

Please see LETRS Reimbursement - WISEgrants Technical Assistance or email essergrants@dpi.wi.gov with any questions. See the LETRS Training Reimbursement message that was sent on June 20, 2022, for more information.

Claims for Reimbursement

After the initial LETRS (or other accredited program) funding amounts have been distributed to participating LEAs and CESAs, agencies will submit claims for training reimbursement through WISEgrants. The following will be collected as supporting documentation for each claim submitted:

  • Selection from a DPI-provided list of trainings and vendor(s)
  • Number of participants who attended the training being reimbursed

The following WUFAR combinations will be available on the claim:

  • Fund 10 (General Education) or Fund 27 (Special Education), Object 310 (Payment to Private Vendor), Function 221300 or Function 264400
  • Fund 10 (General Education) or Fund 27 (Special Education), Object 382 (Payment to LEA), Function 221300 or Function 264400
  • Fund 10 (General Education) or Fund 27 (Special Education), Object 386 (Payment to CESA), Function 221300 or Function 264400

Only the cost of the vendor payment is eligible for reimbursement. Costs related to staff compensation, substitute teachers, employee travel, stipends, and consortium administrative fees are not eligible for reimbursement. Materials, supplies and books provided as part of the vendor training should be coded to object 310, 382 or 386 (as applicable).

An LEA or a CESA may purchase seats from an approved vendor on behalf of other agencies to meet "minimum seat requirements." In those cases, the LEA or CESA would invoice the participating agencies and those agencies would submit claims for LETRS reimbursement.

See the LETRS Reimbursement Claiming - Technical Assistance (Google Doc) for more information.