ESEA Monthly Newsletter

November 2, 2021

We hope to provide you with helpful information monthly through the newsletter and office hours. Our newsletters will often include:

  • General and Title Specific Updates from the ESEA Federal Programs Team
  • Fun Data Fact(s)
  • Friendly Reminders for Planning and Program Implementation
  • Professional Learning Opportunities
  • Contact Information

Virtual Office Hours

Held the 2nd Tuesday of every month.

The next Virtual Office Hour is scheduled for Tuesday, November 9, at 9:00 AM

Contact Cheryl.Lang@maine.gov or your regional program coordinator for the link.)

General & Title Specific Updates from the ESEA Federal Programs Team

Title IA Reallocated Funds

The due date for submitting the closeout report for these summer expenses was October 15th, 2021. We hope it was a successful program and a great use of Title I funding. If you have not yet done so, this is a reminder to have the business office invoice for those expenses and for the ESEA Coordinators to complete the closeout report. The Grant Award email sent during the end of April from Jackie Godbout had the closeout report attached to it. If you have any questions or need another copy, send an email request to Jessica.s.caron@maine.gov.

Fun Data Fact(s)

As the morning of 11/2, we have received 32 completed FY21 Performance Reports.

Friendly Reminders for Planning and Program Implementation for the month of November

ESEA Application User Access & Submission

For new users hoping to access the Grants4ME portal for the first time, as well as instructions on how to set up new users and assign user roles, SAUs can review the Grants4ME Access Guide located here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/sites/maine.gov.doe/files/inline-files/Grants4ME%20Access%20v4.pdf.

For school Principals, Business Managers, and Superintendents seeking to provide official sign off for their portion of the ESEA Application, please follow the submission workflow steps located here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/sites/maine.gov.doe/files/inline-files/Submission%20Workflow.pdf.

For additional resources on the ESEA Application, including training videos on how to complete the application, please visit the ESEA Team’s Grants4ME webpage: https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/esea/grants4me.

Parent & Family Engagement

ESEA Data Dashboard: Districts need to annually notify and educate their families about the ESEA Dashboard. We recommend posting this information on a district’s webpage and sharing it with your families. Along with posting the link to the state’s ESEA Dashboard (https://www.maine.gov/doe/dashboard#), districts need to provide an explanation to their families about the dashboard and the information found on the dashboard. Help in navigating the Data Dashboard is located on the same page as the Data Dashboard itself.

Fiscal

General

We encourage Business Managers to submit monthly invoices for all ESEA titles. Please note that if you transferred funds from one title into another, you may receive separate payments at different times from each title. You can now see this on the "Request" page under the link that reads "Payment Details." As we have different accountants responsible for the different titles, payments may occur at different times. All of our trainings, including invoicing trainings, in relation to Grants4ME can be located at:https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/esea/grants4me.

How Invoices are paid in Grants4ME

Once an invoice has been submitted and approved by the state team, the Grants4ME system will take the amount of funding that has been requested and will generate the necessary check(s) based on the proportional funding stream(s) for that particular grant.

For example:

A district has $90,000 in their Title IA allocation

A district has $10,000 in their Title IVA allocation

In the FY21 Application, the $10,000 from Title IVA was transferred to Title IA.

When budgeting Title IA funds, there is now a total of $100,000 available (90% Title IA Allocation and 10% transfer from Title IVA).

If the district submits an invoice request for $20,000 in Title IA funds, the Grants4ME system will reimburse based on the proportion of funds in total that is available.

Even if all $20,000 was put under the Title IA Allocation expense line in the Expenditure page of the invoice, it does not mean that the district will receive a single check from the Title IA allocation. That means, 90% of the invoiced $20,000 ($18,000) will be reimbursed from Title IA and 10% of $20,000 ($2,000) will be reimbursed from Title IVA.

This will happen automatically in the system and is NOT something that a district will need to manually do when submitting invoices.

If you have any questions about ledgers and how this coincides with the new Grants4ME system, please reach out to the School Finance team for more information.

Performance Report

The Performance Report for the FY21 funds is now located in the Grants4ME system. The due date is November 3, 2021, to report FY21 expenses from July 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021. The report will request the same information as in previous years—Financial, degree to which goals/outcomes were met, and Titles IA, ID, II, and III supplemental data. Please contact your Regional Program Manager if you need any assistance. All of our invoicing trainings for the Performance Report in Grants4ME can be located at: https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/esea/grants4me. 

Professional Learning Opportunities

Professional Learning offered through the Department of Education is a fantastic resource for supporting professional development for administrators and educators. The Department’s professional learning calendar is available at https://www.maine.gov/doe/calendar. This calendar is currently undergoing a format change. Please bear with us as we strive to make finding professional learning and training easier to access.

For more information about professional learning opportunities specific to Tier III identified schools, please contact Teri Peaslee, School Turnaround Professional Development Coordinator at teri.peaslee@maine.gov or cell (207) 530-7672.

Contact Information

As always, reach out to your ESEA regional program manager with questions. Their contact information can be found at https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/esea/contact. Also, your feedback is encouraged and appreciated. Please contact Cheryl Lang at cheryl.lang@maine.gov with feedback and suggestions.