The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund is administered by the United States Department of Education. ESSER funds were distributed "to address diverse needs arising from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to emerge stronger post-pandemic, including responding to students' social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs and continuing to provide educational services as States and school administrative units (SAUs) respond to and recover from the pandemic." (Frequently Asked Questions, updated December 2022). Additional information about the three federal emergency relief acts can be found at https://oese.ed.gov/offices/education-stabilization-fund/elementary-secondary-school-emergency-relief-fund.
Any use of ESSER funds must be “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to” the COVID-19 pandemic while being necessary and reasonable for the performance of the ESSER award. This means that transferring funds to a rainy-day fund, bridging a budget shortfall that is not related to the pandemic, and providing matching funds for other federal programs are not allowable.
Allocations
Information
| Last Updated (year-month-day) |
Category | File Name / Topic | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-9-6 | Office Hours | OFERP September 2023 Office Hours | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2023-6-1 | Office Hours | OFERP June 2023 Office Hours | |
| 2022-12-13 | General Info | CARES ESSER I blank application | PDF (567 KB) |
| 2022-12-13 | General Info | CRRSA ESSER II blank application | PDF (719 KB) |
| 2020-05-29 | General Info | ESSERF Coding Handbook | PDF (1.1 MB) |
| 2021-01-07 | General Info | ESSER I & II FAQs | PDF (189 KB) |
| 2022-12-07 | General Info | ESSER & GEER FAQs for Allowable Uses (Updated) | PDF (1.2 MB) |
| 2021-05-01 | General Info | ESSER & GEER FAQs for Allowable Uses | PDF (857 KB) |
| 2020-05-01 | General Info | CARES Act ESSERF Finance Training | Video (8 minutes) |
| 2020-03-27 | General Info | H.R. 748 – CARES Act | Web page |
| General Info | COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel | Web page | |
| 2020-05-14 | General Info | EPS Model Expenditures | PDF (251 KB) |
| 2020-05-15 | General Info | EPS Model Expenditure Allocations Presentation | PDF (218 KB) |
| 2020-10-20 | General Info | ESSERF and Equitable Share Allocations | Excel (27 KB) |
| 2021-01-15 | General Info | CRRSA Act Finance Presentation | PowerPoint (801 KB) |
| 2021-03-26 | General Info | ARP ESSER Presentation | PowerPoint (1.1 MB) |
| 2021-06-14 | General Info | Learning Management System Subgrant Allocations | PDF (112 KB) |
| 2021-06-07 | General Info | Priority Notice regarding LMS Grant | Web page |
| General Info | LEA Plan: Appendix A of ARPA and Appendix B of the Interim Final Rule | Web page | |
| 2021-05-26 | General Info | United States Department of Education - Use of Funds FAQ | PDF (857 KB) |
| 2021-07-14 | General Info |
Interim Federal Rule for American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund |
Web page |
| 2021-08-02 | General Info |
Resources to Help Schools Improve Ventilations Systems to Prevent COVID-19 from US Department of Education |
Web page |
| 2021-08-02 | General Info | ARP Homeless Children and Youth (ARP HCY) preliminary allocations | PDF (60 KB) |
| 2021-08-02 | General Info | Blank GEM ARP ESSER application | PDF (639 KB) |
| 2021-08-19 | General Info | Office Hour, August 17, 2021 ARP HCY II Zoom recording | Video (34 minutes) |
| 2021-08-20 | General Info | Time and Effort Documentation: Personal Activity Report | Word (59 KB) |
| 2021-08-20 | General Info | Time and Effort Documentation: Semi-annual Certification | Word (35 KB) |
| 2021-08-20 | General Info | Time and Effort Documentation: Modified Stipend Time and Effort | Word (100 KB) |
| 2021-10-13 | General Info | School Construction Checklist (using ESSER) | PDF (101 KB) |
| 2021-11-08 | General Info | Expanding or Creating a Pre-K Program Using Federal Emergency Relief Funds Information Sheet | PDF (102 KB) |
| 2021-11-08 | General Info | Expanding or Creating a Pre-K Program Using Federal Emergency Relief Funds Slide Presentation | PDF (359 KB) |
| 2021-11-12 | General Info | Business Manager Guide | PDF (199 KB) |
| 2021-12-07 | General Info | ARP Homeless Children and Youth II FAQ | PDF (367 KB) |
| 2021-12-17 | General Info | ESSER Performance Report (2020-2021) Blank Copy | PDF (397 KB) | Word (85 KB) |
| 2022-03-03 | General Info | Invoicing Instructions CARES ESSER 1 & CRRSA ESSER 2 | PDF (243 KB) |
| 2022-03-03 | General Info | Invoicing Instructions APR ESSER 3 | PDF (241 KB) |
| 2022-01-13 | General Info | Performance Report FAQs | PDF (203 KB) |
| 2022-01-27 | General Info | PPE Allocations | PDF (166 KB) |
| 2022-02-11 | General Info | Maine ASBO Presentation February 11, 2022, on Performance Reports due March 25, 2022 | PDF (773 KB) |
| 2022-07-12 | General Info | Close-out Terms for ESSER Grants | PDF (137 KB) |
| 2022-08-09 | General Info | General Disposition Guidance for Equitable Services under the CARES Act | PDF (85 KB) |
| 2022-08-16 | General Info | Updating GEM Login and Password | PDF (203 KB) |
| 2022-09-28 | General Info | Students Experiencing Homelessness and/or Multilingual Learners (MLs) Allocations by SAU | PDF (411 KB) |
| 2022-12-20 | General Info | Computer Science Mobile Learning application sample | PDF (197 KB) |
| 2022-03-08 | General Info | ESSER FY'22 Performance Report - Blank Copy | PDF (364 KB) | Word (79 KB) |
| 2023-03-17 | General Info | ESSER Performance Report FY'22 Office Hour | Video (62 minutes) | PDF (1.4 MB) | PDF (247 KB) |
| 2021-07-01 | Office Hours | ARP Purpose, Requirements, and Application Process | Video (65 minutes) | PDF (328 KB) | PDF (128 KB) |
| 2021-07-15 | Office Hours | ARP ESSER Application Training | Video (62 minutes) | PDF (1 MB) | PDF (275 MB) |
| 2021-07-29 | Office Hours | ARP ESSER Application Training - 2 | Video (50 minutes) | PDF (758 KB) | PDF (132 KB) |
| 2021-08-12 | Office Hours | ARP ESSER Application Training -3 | Video (42 minutes) | PowerPoint (848 KB) | PDF (84 KB) |
| 2021-08-17 | Office Hours | ARP HCY II | Video (34 minutes) | |
| 2021-08-26 | Office Hours | ARP application update and guidance - 4 | Video (26 minutes) | PDF (589 KB) |
| 2021-09-23 | Office Hours | ARP application updates and guidance - 5 | Video (51 minutes) | PDF (768 KB) |
| 2021-10-07 | Office Hours | ARP Application Updates and Guidance - 6 | Video (37 minutes) | PDF (573 KB) |
| 2021-11-04 | Office Hours | ARP Application Updates and Guidance - 7 | Video (25 minutes) | PDF (671 KB) |
| 2021-12-02 | Office Hours | Maintenance of Equity (MOEq) | Video (47 minutes) | PDF (704 KB) | Excel (376 KB) | |
| 2021-12-02 | Office Hours | MOEq Tool walkthrough | Video (23 minutes) | PDF (418 KB) |
| 2022-01-06 | Office Hours | Completing the ESSER Performance Report - 9 | Video (65 minutes) | PDF (879 KB) | PDF (163 KB) |
| 2022-02-03 | Office Hours | ESSER Performance Report | Video (43 minutes) | PDF (991 KB) |
| 2022-03-03 | Office Hours | ESSER Performance Report | Video (39 minutes) | PDF (455 KB) |
| 2022-04-07 | Office Hours | Common Reasons PRs are Reopened | Video (38 minutes) | PDF (730 KB) |
| 2022-05-05 | Office Hours | Information for Business Managers | Video (72 minutes) | PDF (1.5 MB) | PDF (166 KB) |
| 2022-06-16 | Office Hours | Late Liquidation | Video (36 minutes) | PDF (898 KB) |
| 2022-09-13 | Office Hours | New Applicant Coordinators and Other School Leaders | Video (52 minutes) | PDF (3.2 MB) |
| 2022-09-08 | Webinar | Maintenance of Equity Webinar | PDF (1.2 MB) |
| 2022-10-06 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates | Video (29 minutes) | PDF (723 KB) |
| 2022-11-03 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates/MoEquity | Video (28 minutes) | PDF (779 KB) |
| 2022-12-01 | Office Hours | Updates/New Invoicing Practices for Subscriptions | PDF (776 KB) |
| 2023-01-05 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates | Video (24 minutes) | PDF (905 KB) |
| 2023-02-02 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates: Disposition, New Procedures 10% overage, Preview of Performance Report | Video (52 minutes) | PDF (1.2 MB) |
| 2023-03-02 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates: Preview of Performance Reports | Video (40 minutes) | PDF (760 KB) | PDF (364 KB) |
| 2023-04-06 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates: FY22 Performance Reports, Invoice Review timeline, Davis-Bacon Act reminder | Video (25 minutes) | PDF (448 KB) |
| 2020-04-17 | Waiver | Perkins | PDF (175 KB) |
| 2020-03-27 | Waiver | Assessment, Accountability & Reporting | PDF (169 KB) |
| 2020-04-21 | Waiver | ESEA | PDF (220 KB) |
| 2020-04-29 | Policy Guidance | Adult Education Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) | Word (170 KB) |
| 2020-04-29 | Policy Guidance | ESEA | Word (67 KB) |
| 2020-05-18 | Policy Guidance | IDEA Guidance | PDF (135 KB) |
| 2020-04-29 | Policy Guidance | Perkins | Word (61 KB) |
| General Info | SAU Spending and Instruction Plans | Web page | |
| 2023-06-14 | General Info | MELH Invoicing | Excel (21 KB) |
Contact Information