Waivers Granted Under No Child Left Behind

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2009 Title I Waiver Letters

Introduction

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides significant new funding for programs under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA). Specifically, the ARRA provides $10 billion in additional fiscal year (FY) 2009 Title I, Part A funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) for schools that have high concentrations of students from families that live in poverty in order to help improve teaching and learning for students most at risk of failing to meet State academic achievement standards. As a result, the Department indicated that the Secretary would consider certain waiver requests with respect to ARRA funding, such as waivers to permit an LEA to exclude ARRA funds when making certain fiscal and “set-aside” calculations, waivers related to the limitation on carryover for an LEA that has excess Title I, Part A funds, and waivers of maintenance-of-effort requirements.

In addition, in his April 1, 2009 letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the Title I regulations the Department issued in October 2008 [73 FR 64436 (Oct. 29, 2008), ], Secretary Duncan noted that he would consider requests for waivers of two Title I regulatory provisions related to the implementation of public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES).

Finally, the Department issued guidance inviting states and LEAs to apply for specific waivers. This guidance document provides more detailed information about the provisions for which the Secretary is specifically inviting waiver requests, the entities the Secretary is inviting to request waivers, the contents of the invited waiver requests, the submission and approval process for the requests, notice-and-comment requirements, reporting requirements, and the anticipated duration of the waivers for which requests are invited, as well as examples of acceptable formats for submissions of invited waiver requests. In addition to the waivers referenced in prior documents, through this Guidance, the Secretary is also inviting requests for a waiver that would permit an LEA with one or more schools in improvement to offer SES, in addition to public school choice, to eligible students in Title I schools in the first year of school improvement.

This web page provides letters responding to waivers related to Title I, Part A requested under section 9401 of the ESEA and waivers of maintenance-of-effort requirements under Title I, Part A of the ESEA.