OST: Out of School Time

ARP: American Rescue Plan

ESSER Fund: Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund

SEA: State Education Agency

LEA: Local Education Agency

ED: U.S. Department of Education

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund is a COVID-19 relief program for states and school districts. ESSER was funded through three separate laws:

• March 2020 — $13.23 billion through CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), often referred to as “ESSER 1,”
• December 2020 — $54.3 billion through CRRSA (Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act), often referred to as “ESSER 2,” and
• March 2021 — $121.975 billion through ARP (American Rescue Plan), often referred to as “ESSER 3” or “ARP ESSER.”

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) awards ESSER funds to states and states must allocate at least 90% of the funds to school districts. ESSER funds retained at the state level are sometimes referred to as ESSER “state level” or “state reserve” funds; funds allocated to school districts are sometimes referred to as ESSER “local” funds.

ESSER allocation amounts for each state are available at the following links: ESSER 1 allocations, ESSER 2 allocations, and ARP ESSER allocations.

ESSER funds are flexible compared to other federal education programs.^[1] States and school districts must use ESSER funds to prevent, prepare for, or respond to COVID-19, which can include a broad variety of activities to address the effects of the pandemic, address pre-existing issues exacerbated by the pandemic, or emerge stronger post-pandemic.^[2] ED has clarified that all three ESSER funding streams may be spent on the same activities,^[3] except for certain required set-asides in ARP ESSER.

The chart below reflects the timing for each ESSER funding stream.

Yes. ARP ESSER requires a certain amount of funding to be “set-aside” for specific activities. There are both state and local level set-asides, and activities funded through the set-asides should respond to students’ academic, social and emotional needs, and address the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on certain student groups.^[6]

State level. States must reserve from their total ARP ESSER allocation:

• At least 5% to address learning loss (also referred to as the academic impact of lost instructional time^[7]) through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs,^[8]
• At least 1% for evidence-based summer enrichment programs,^[9] and
• At least 1% for evidence-based comprehensive afterschool programs.^[10]

Local level (school districts). School districts must reserve at least 20% of their ARP ESSER allocation to address learning loss (also referred to as the academic impact of lost instructional time) through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs.

The required state and local set-asides in ARP ESSER must only be used to support evidence-based interventions. ARP ESSER uses the same definition of evidence-based as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA specifies four levels of evidence:

1. Strong Evidence, meaning there is at least one well-designed and well-implemented experimental study (e.g., a randomized control trial) on the intervention. This is sometimes referred to as “Tier 1” evidence
2. Moderate Evidence, meaning there is at least one well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study on the intervention. This is sometimes referred to as “Tier 2” evidence.
3. Promising Evidence, meaning there is at least one well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias on the intervention. This is sometimes referred to as “Tier 3” evidence.
4. Demonstrates a Rationale, meaning the intervention includes: 1) a well-specified logic model that is informed by research or an evaluation that suggests how the intervention is likely to improve relevant outcomes; and 2) an effort to study the effects of the intervention. This is sometimes referred to as “Tier 4” evidence.”^[11]

ED clarified that for an activity to be considered evidence-based, an activity is not required to have generated such evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[12]

Please note, the evidence-based requirements only apply to the ARP ESSER required set-asides – the evidence-based requirements do not apply to “regular” ESSER funds (described more below) except when ESSER funds are used to support full-service community schools. For example, “regular” ESSER funding could be used to pay for students to attend a summer camp, or to participate in an out-of-school robotics program, even if there is not a specific evidence-base for those activities.^[13]

Yes. While some ARP ESSER funds must be “set-aside” for evidence-based activities to address learning loss, summer enrichment, and afterschool programs, “regular” ESSER funds (from all three ESSER funding streams) at both the state and district level are quite flexible and can be used for a variety of costs, including summer and afterschool programming.

Summer and afterschool programming are specifically listed as permissible uses of ESSER funds.^[14] This means that “regular” ESSER funds – which constitute the vast majority of ESSER funding – can be spent on summer and afterschool programming.

“Regular” ESSER funds are not subject to evidence-based requirements.

Summer and OST providers might access ESSER funding to provide services through grants or through contracts. Please note that only state-level ESSER funding is available to make grants to providers.

Grants. States are permitted to subgrant state-level ESSER funding to eligible recipients, which can include summer and OST providers. If a provider receives an ESSER subgrant from a state, it is subject to all of the relevant legal obligations of federal grant recipients, including but not limited to requirements detailed in the Uniform Grant Guidance,^[15] such as financial management system standards, personnel paperwork, inventory management, reporting, audit, and other requirements. Summer and OST recipients of state-level ESSER grants are considered “subgrantees” and are not permitted to “regrant” ESSER funds to other entities.^[16] States are responsible for overseeing ESSER subgrantee compliance.^[17]

School districts are not permitted to grant or subgrant ESSER funds to any entity, including summer and OST providers. (School districts can however contract with summer and OST providers.)

Contracts. Both states and school districts may contract with summer and OST providers to provide services with ESSER funds. States must follow state procurement and contracting processes when contracting with ESSER funds. School districts must follow federal, state, and local procurement processes when contracting with ESSER funds. The federal procurement and contracting standards that school districts must follow are described in the Uniform Grant Guidance.^[18] Please note that in certain limited situations, “noncompetitive” procurements are permitted under federal rules – for example, when only a single source can provide the item, there is a public emergency, or the federal agency or “pass through entity” (the SEA for ESSER) approves the noncompetitive procurement in writing.^[19] ED clarified that school districts might want to consider noncompetitive procurement options for 2021 summer enrichment programs.^[20]

At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) administers ESSER funds and allocates ESSER funding to states. In this role, among other duties, ED is responsible for providing technical assistance to grant recipients, monitoring the use of funds, providing access to ED’s grants management system where states draw down funds, providing training and information to auditors, and overseeing reporting requirements.

At the state level, State Education Agencies (SEAs) – typically known as state departments of education or state departments of public instruction – allocate ESSER funds to school districts, spend state-level ESSER funds either directly or through subgrants to eligible recipients or contracts with providers, and oversee subgrantees. This oversight role includes reviewing and approving school district applications for ESSER funding, providing technical assistance to subgrantees (which could include summer or OST subgrant recipients), monitoring subgrantees for compliance with federal rules, and ensuring that subgrantees receive required audits.

At the local level, local education agencies (LEAs) – typically known as school districts –apply to their SEAs to receive the funding, submit required plans to the SEA, administer ESSER funds at the local level, and spend ESSER funds. At the local level ESSER funds can either be spent directly for the LEA – for example, to pay school district staff – or through contracts with providers for goods or services.

ESSER is a flexible program, therefore a variety of summer learning costs are permissible, and programs can address the needs of students of all ages.^[21] ED encourages states and school districts to maximize enrollment in summer programs, with particular focus on underserved students and students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including providing transportation and meal services.^[22]

Examples of permissible costs include, but are not limited to:

• Summer learning and enrichment programs, including summer camps,^[23] along with necessary and reasonable costs to reduce barriers for students to attend high-quality programs (such as transportation and other costs related to attending).^[24]
• Summer bridge programs to help students make the successful transition to postsecondary education, training, pre-apprenticeship, registered apprenticeship, or other career pathway programs.^[25]
• Summer learning and enrichment programs that provide training, work-based learning, and jobs to high school students, including service learning or other volunteer opportunities for high school students.^[26]

Please note that if ARP ESSER set-aside funds are used to pay for the above kinds of programming, the programs must be evidence-based. “Regular” ESSER funds are not subject to the evidence-based requirements.^[27]

As with summer learning, because ESSER is a flexible program, a wide variety of OST costs are permissible. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Afterschool, or other out-of-school time, programs that address students’ social, emotional, and academic needs,^[28] these programs can occur before and after the regular school day, as well as on weekends or during school breaks.^[29]
• Costs that expand programming options for students through in-school or out-of-school programming, which could include arts or sports programming; or clubs, such as a robotics or STEM club.^[30]

Please note that if ARP ESSER set-aside funds are used to pay for the above kinds of programming, the programs must be evidence-based. “Regular” ESSER funds are not subject to the evidence-based requirements.^[31]

States are engaging in a wide variety of approaches, some examples include:

• Connecticut: Connecticut is funding grants to expand summer 2021 programming in for low-income children, and to support innovative summer offerings in rural and urban areas, including opportunities in sports and recreation, hands-on academic experiences, theater and poetry, and mentorship.
• Georgia: Georgia will run the Building Opportunities in Out of-School Time (BOOST) grant competition, which offer three-year grants, renewed annually, to community-based organizations or municipalities that operate comprehensive out-of-school time (OST) programming over the summer months, after school during the academic year, or year-round, with the goal of providing evidence-based afterschool and summer programming focusing on academic and non-academic barriers for students most impacted by COVID-19.
• New Hampshire: Under the Rekindling Curiosity program, the New Hampshire Department of Education is partnering with camps and other summer learning organizations to make summer 2021 enrichment opportunities available to students with disabilities and from low-income backgrounds.
• Utah: Utah is running a competitive grant program where providers must commit to combining summer learning and afterschool programming, and must partner with school districts and community based organizations.
• West Virginia: West Virginia is funding the Summer SOLE program (Student Opportunities for Learning and Engagement) which provides hands-on, engaging and interactive 2021 summer learning experiences that will begin to address students’ social-emotional needs and support their recovery from pandemic learning loss. Funded programs offer in-person, research-based opportunities including full-day programs for K-8 as well as access to a minimum of 4 days per week for at least 4 weeks with free transportation and meals for all K-12 students.

Other summer and OST approaches are described in recently approved state ARP ESSER plans, summaries of which can be accessed here.

ED’s ESSER and ARP ESSER websites link to a number of resources.