ESEA Monthly Update

Monique Sullivan joined the ESEA Team as the Title I Coordinator on January 2, 2019. She will be responsible for the review and approval of ESEA applications and performance reports for Aroostook and Washington counties.  Monique is a former teacher and administrator with experience working in PK-12 schools and Title I programs. 

The ESEA team expects to have the vacant Title II position filled by February 2019.

ESEA Accountability

The Department sent a special priority notice to superintendents on Dec. 28 with an invitation to preview their school report cards prior to public release. For technical assistance and questions about report card data (at any time), please contact the Helpdesk at medms.helpdesk@maine.gov or (207) 624-6896. For additional resources that help with understanding Maine’s Model of School Support, ESSA, and the report cards, please visit the Communications Toolkit.

As part of Maine’s rollout of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), school report cards will be released later this year. The Department continues to release newsroom notices to help explain the many elements of Maine’s Model of School Support and the report cards including, What Is Academic Achievement?, What is Graduation Rate?, What is Academic Progress?, and What is English Language Proficiency?.

All Tier III schools have been contacted by the department. Contact ESEA Federal Programs and School Turnaround Director, Chelsey Fortin-Trimble at chelsey.a.fortin@maine.gov for further questions regarding Tier III identifications and ESEA Report Cards.

English Learners

 There has been a change in English learner identification and exit criteria. Please refer to Administrative letter #20 for details.

Professional Development Opportunities

 Visit the Maine DOE Professional Development and Training Calendar for the most up-to-date listing of opportunities.

ESEA Coordinator Project

Many SAU employees are involved in the coordination and delivery of services related to ESEA programs.  In many cases, it is appropriate and allowable to pay for staff salaries involved in such work through ESEA federal grants.  There are, however, some exceptions.  Superintendents, for example, are the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) hired for the overall good of their organization.  As such, Superintendents may be tasked with the work of an ESEA Coordinator, but may not receive any payments from ESEA federal grants for said work.  In addition, the salary of any full-time fiscal staff member(s) hired to support the overall organization may not be paid with ESEA funds.  These positions are considered indirect costs.  Direct costs, for example, would be offering other staff (i.e. teachers) additional funding/stipends to do this work outside of their contractual teaching duties or to contract directly with an individual. The ESEA Coordinator stipend must be funded with at least two funding streams and may not exceed 4% of the Title I or IIA allocations or 2% of Title III or Title IV allocations.

Final Approvals of Applications and Performance Reports

 All submitted applications and performance reports are reviewed in the order in which they are received. This is an incredibly busy time for the Department and a unique year for the ESEA. The ESEA staff is currently working to implement ESSA requirements. This task includes the implementation of Maine's Model of School Support by the U.S. Department of Education’s (USED) deadline of December 31, 2018. This work last happened in 2001 after the approval of NCLB. The implementation of ESSA is a tremendous undertaking that the ESEA Office must complete in order to continue the flow of over $70 million dollars in ESEA funding to Maine. The ESEA Office continues to prioritize both of the approval of applications and ESSA implementation to meet the needs of the field and the USED. If you currently do not have final approval, please check that all open sections of the application and performance report have been addressed and resubmitted to the Department.

Carryover Next Steps

 If your SAU did not have any FY18 ESEA carryover funds, you may disregard this section.  If, however, your School Administrative Unit (SAU) had FY18 ESEA carryover funds, the SAU should complete and submit its End of Year Carryover Narrative and End of Year Summary Report pages by January 15, 2019. These carryover report pages can be found in the 2017-18 Performance Report. Expenses should be reported, by project, for the timeframe beginning after initial closeout through December 31, 2018. If additional funds remain, an Extension Carryover Request should be made on the End of Year Summary page, and the SAU will have from January 1 through June 30, 2019 to expend these funds and complete the Extension Carryover Report pages. All funds must be expended by June 30, 2019.

Manual Extension for FY18 Carryover Funds

 The ESEA Federal Programs team will not grant manual extensions to SAUs that were unable to expend their ESEA Federal Carryover Funds within the expected two-year time frame.  All FY18 Funds must be completely expended by June 30, 2019.

Certification

• The Department is once again proposing revisions to Rule Chapter 115: Credentialing of Educational Personnel.  Learn more.
• There is a new District Human Resource Role in the online certification system that provides the ability to view a district’s certification (violations) report as well as any district employees up for a credential in MEIS (Maine Educator Information System). Learn more.

Data Reporting

• Report of Adult Education (EF-M-39B) – opened December 1st, due by January 15, 2019
• Regional School Calendars Due May 3, 2019
• As a reminder, please ensure that your local data systems are configured properly for state reporting. Read more.
• Learn more about an online bullying reporting program available for Maine schools through Optania, a program which is aligned with Maine DOE’s model bullying policy and procedures. Read more.

Facilities, Safety and Transportation

• The Maine DOE has been awarded $2.88M grant to support a school emergency operations plan initiative. Schools will receive an invitation from the Department to participate in grant activities this spring. Learn more.
• The December School Safety and Security Bulletin is available: Emergency Operations Planning.

Funding & Operations

• 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant – The Department is pleased to announce the release of its 2019 grant competition for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program.  Enacted under Title IV, Part B of the ESEA, the 21st CCLC program provides competitive grant funding to support the creation or expansion of before-, after-, and summer-school learning programs for economically disadvantaged youth and their families.  The Department anticipates having $1.75M in available funding and will be accepting applications through April 4, 2019.

• McKinney-Vento Grant - A new RFP will be issued in early January for the McKinney-Vento Sub-grant for the education of homeless students for the remaining funds that have not yet been distributed. Districts who were not awarded a grant in this round are encouraged to apply. The Department is 100% committed to distributing all available McKinney-Vento subgrant funds to local school systems to meet the needs of as many homeless students as possible. Prior to the next RFP opportunity, face-to-face feedback sessions are available for any applicant that requests one.
   
• Remote School Days - The Department has issued Guidance Regarding Storm-Kit Days (a.k.a. Blizzard Bags) for Students. This communication clarifies the current status of requirements regarding makeup days for cancellations due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances as it relates to Anytime-Anywhere or home-based instructional days. Please know that the Department is currently exploring the law, data, and best practices around this topic and anticipates further information, which may include proposed legislation, to be forthcoming in the winter and spring of 2019.

School Health

• The Maine DOE’s Child Nutrition Program has announced the launch of Maine’s Harvest of the Month Program. Read more.

Special Education

• The Maine DOE’s Office of Special Services has reviewed comments made to the proposed changes to Chapter 101: Maine Unified Special Education Regulations (MUSER) Birth to Twenty and has decided to withdraw the proposed changes at this time. Read more.
   
• The Department recently issued Administrative Letter #21: Clarification about Determining the Existence of a Specific Learning Disability for a Child. Read more.

Standards and Instructional Support

• Maine DOE is gearing up for the 2019 Read to ME Campaign – Learn how to participate.
   
• #DigCit4ME Challenge and Workshops - Professional learning related to digital citizenship, as well as interacting in the digital world in healthy and safe ways, is offered regionally Jan 8, 16, 25, 29, and 30. Learn more
   
• Poverty: The Multiple Influences and Effects - The Maine DOE is providing a three-part workshop series with Miriam Dodge, a GoldStar speaker for Communication Across Barriers. The series will be limited to 20 participants and will focus on the Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten age span.  Learn more.