USED Revises Maintenance of Equity Guidance

August 8, 2021

On Friday, USED released a revised set of guidance for Maintenance of Equity in which they provide a flexibility such that the provision will only apply to LEAs experiencing a net decrease in state and local funding for the 21-22 school year. You’ll recall that in June, USED released its initial guidance on Maintenance of Equity (MoEq) and included an interpretation that the provision would apply to all schools enrolling more than 1,000 students, which ran counter to the  intention of the underlying statute, the general impression in the field and among policy experts, and something that would prove problematic to the field. 

This revised guidance clarifies that, among other things, for the 21-22 school year, the more narrow application will apply.

What do you need to know?

• Letter from Sec Cardona to state chiefs and school superintendents is here.
• The updated guidance itself is available here. The critical update is that with this new guidance, “an LEA…may demonstrate that it is excepted from the maintenance of equity requirements for FY 2022 by certifying to the Department that it did not and will not implement an aggregate reduction in combined State and local per-pupil funding in FY 2022 (i.e., is not facing overall budget reductions).” In layman’s terms, this means the MoEquity provision only applies to LEAs experiencing a net decrease in state/local dollars. Any LEA that can certify they will not have a new reduction in combined state and local funding for 2021-22 school year will be excepted from this provision. LEAs seeking the exception will need to submit a certification affirming they will not have a net decrease; that form is available in Appendix B (page 24) of the August 6 revised guidance.