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General Provisions

Overview

General Provision are found within Title VIII of the ESEA and apply to all ESEA programs.

Title VIII General Provisions – Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

Consolidated Administration Pool (CAP)

School districts, with the approval of the State, may consolidate and use for the administration of one or more programs under the ESEA not more than the percentage, established in each program, of the total available for the district under those programs.

Districts that consolidate administrative funds under this section for any fiscal year shall not use any other funds under the programs included in the consolidation for administration for that fiscal year.

A district that consolidates administrative funds under this section shall not be required to keep separate records, by individual program, to account for costs relating to the administration of the programs included in the consolidation.

ESEA 8203

ESEA Consolidated Application GMS Handbook

Equitable Services for Private School Students and Teachers

The ESEA requires districts to provide equitable services for eligible private school children, teachers and other educational personnel, and families. Equitable services are provided from applicable federal program funds in private schools that choose to participate in these services. Titles I and VIII of ESEA, as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) outline the requirements for providing equitable services under these programs:

Title I, Part A – Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
Title I, Part C – Education of Migratory Children
Title II, Part A – Supporting Effective Instruction
Title III, Part A – Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students
Title IV, Part A – Student Support and Academic Enrichment
Title IV, Part B – 21st Century Community Learning Centers

ESEA 8501

DEED’s ESEA Equitable Services for Private Schools Webpage

Maintenance of Effort (MOE)

Districts are required to maintain MOE. The combined fiscal effort per student of the aggregate expenditures of the district from state and local funds from the preceding year must not be less than 90% of the second preceding year. The penalty for not meeting MOE is a reduction of funds from the relevant program by the percentage by which the district failed to meet MOE.

Districts can demonstrate MOE by either the combined fiscal effort per student or the aggregate expenditures of non-federal funds of the district for the preceding year was not less than 90% of the second preceding year.

ESEA 8521

34 CFR § 299.5 - What maintenance of effort requirements apply to ESEA programs?

School Prayer

As a condition of receiving funds under the ESEA, a local educational agency shall certify in writing to the State educational agency involved that no policy of the local educational agency prevents, or otherwise denies participation in, constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary schools and secondary schools. The certification shall be provided by October 1 of each year. The State educational agency shall report to the Secretary by November 1 of each year a list of those local educational agencies that have not filed the certification or against which complaints have been made to the State educational agency that the local educational agencies are not in compliance with this section.

ESEA 8524(b)

Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer and Religious Expression in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools

Letter From Secretary Cardona 5.2023

Equal Access to Public School Facilities

No public elementary school, public secondary school, local educational agency, or State educational agency that has a designated open forum or a limited public forum and that receives funds made available through the Department shall deny equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to, or discriminate against, any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group listed in title 36 (as a patriotic society), that wishes to conduct a meeting within that designated open forum or limited public forum, including denying such access or opportunity or discriminating for reasons based on the membership or leadership criteria or oath of allegiance to God and country of the Boy Scouts of America or of the youth group listed in title 36 (as a patriotic society).

ESEA 8525

Prohibited Uses of Funds

No funds under the ESEA may be used—

  1. for construction, renovation, or repair of any school facility, except as authorized under the ESEA;
  2. for transportation unless otherwise authorized under the ESEA;
  3. to develop or distribute materials, or operate programs or courses of instruction directed at youth, that are designed to promote or encourage sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual;
  4. to distribute or to aid in the distribution by any organization of legally obscene materials to minors on school grounds;
  5. to provide sex education or HIV-prevention education in schools unless that instruction is age appropriate and includes the health benefits of abstinence; or
  6. to operate a program of contraceptive distribution in schools.

ESEA 8526

On Friday, October 6, 2023, the President signed into law: H.R. 5110, the “Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act,” which clarifies that Federal funds may be used to provide certain weapons or training in the use of weapons within educational instruction or enrichment activities. View the language here. This supersedes previous guidance that the U.S. Department of Education issued related to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA).

Military Recruiters & Institutions of Higher Education

School districts receiving assistance under the ESEA shall provide, upon a request made by a military recruiter or an institution of higher education, access to the name, address, and telephone listing of each secondary school student served by the school district, unless the parent of such student has submitted an opt-out request.

School districts must notify parents of secondary school students that they may submit a written request, to the district, that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing not be released to military recruiter or an institution of higher education without prior written consent of the parent. Upon receiving such request, the district may not release the student’s name, address, and telephone listing for such purposes without the prior written consent of the parent.

ESEA 8528(a)

Military Recruiters & Institutions of Higher Learning Opt-Out Form

Tribal Consultation

The district consults with appropriate officials from Indian tribes or tribal organizations approved by the tribes located in the area served by the district prior to the district’s submission of their ESEA Consolidated Application.

Such consultation is done in a manner and in such time that provides the opportunity for such appropriate officials from Indian tribes or tribal organizations to meaningfully and substantively contribute to the ESEA Consolidated Application

The district maintains in the district records written affirmation signed by the appropriate officials of the participating tribes or tribal organizations approved by the tribes that the consultation has occurred.

APPROPRIATE OFFICIALS.—The term ‘‘appropriate officials’’ means—

(A) tribal officials who are elected; or

(B) appointed tribal leaders or officials designated in writing by an Indian tribe for the specific consultation purpose under this section

ESEA 8538

Contact Us

ESEA Administrator

Courtney Preziosi: (907) 465-2888