Friday, March 26, 2021
On February 10, the Joint Finance Committee adopted Motion #16 to approve the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI’s) allocation plan for ESSER II funds under the CRRSA Act with one modification. Under that modification, $65,537,642 is allocated among 174 local education agencies (LEAs) that would otherwise receive less than $395 per pupil under the Title I-A formula and $100,000 LEA minimum, in proportion to each LEA’s share of the total number of in-person instructional hours provided in the 2020-21 school year.
DPI requested clarifications from the Joint Finance co-chairs on the definition of in-person instruction and how data would be collected. Based on those clarifications, we have developed a plan for this data collection under a method similar to the PI-1804 Summer School Report. Eligible LEAs will be provided a workbook to compile their hours of in-person instruction by class, using an average daily in-person attendance. Each LEA will compile and report a single total number of in-person hours to DPI. A list of the affected LEAs is available in the Excel workbook on ESSER II allocations.
For this collection, in-person instructional hours are defined as hours in which pupils are together in the same physical location, being taught by a licensed teacher who is in the same location. Hours of virtual or other remote instruction may not be counted under any circumstance, including but not limited to:
- Virtual charter schools
- Simultaneous virtual participation in classroom instruction (the pupils participating virtually may not be counted, but those in the classroom with the teacher are counted)
- Splitting pupils among two classrooms, with the second classroom having an aide present and a live screencast of the teacher in the first classroom (hours for pupils in the first classroom, where the teacher is present, may be counted)
- Hybrid models with virtual days (only the in-person days may be counted)
- Temporary closure due to local public health orders, active COVID-19 cases, quarantines, or similar circumstances
The SFS Team is developing an Excel workbook, FAQ, and other guidance on this data collection. More information, including a timeframe for the data collection itself, will be released as soon as it is available.