doe disaster presentation transcript. (ms word) · web viewplease note that after today's...

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[START OF TRANSCRIPT]

Lauren: Welcome and thank you for joining today’s event “Disaster Supplemental Funding Technical Assistance.” Before we begin, please ensure you have opened the WebEx participant and chat panels by using the associated icons located at the bottom of your screen. Note that all audio connections are muted at this time. If you require technical assistance, please send a chat to the event producer. With that, I’ll turn the conference over to Molly Budman. Molly, please go ahead.

Molly: Thank you so much, Lauren. Good afternoon and welcome to the first webinar from the Disaster Recovery Unit. As Lauren said, this is a webinar regarding disaster supplemental funding. On behalf of the secretary and ED’s leadership, we recognize your challenges and want to extend our support during the process of recovery and resumption of normal business operationa. We’re committed to collaborating with impacted parties and our other federal partners, to help remove any barriers you may face and expedite the work necessary, to respond to and recover from consequences of certain disasters in 2018 and 2019. As Lauren said, I am Molly Budman. I am the Restart program lead in the Disaster Recovery Unit. I’m also joined by several members of our program support team which includes Meredith Miller, the director of the DRU, Christopher Tate and Lindsay Booth also from the DRU, Maureen Dowling and Pamila Allen from the Office of Non-Public Education, and Larry Cohen from the Budget Services, Jessica McKinney from the Grants Policy Office and Jane Hess and Rachel Peternith from the Office of the General Counsel.

We’ll introduce members of the team as necessary throughout the webinar, but you will mostly be hearing my voice for the next several minutes. Before we begin, we also wanted to let you know that there will be a question and answer period at the end of our time together. During that time, we recommend that you keep your questions broad and avoid specific questions relating to your specific disasters. We are always here to discuss this with you, and you will see our contact information at the end of this presentation.

For the sake of time, we are asking that you please keep your questions as broad as possible. And, please feel free to type any questions that you think of prior to the end of the presentation into the chat box and we’ll address them at the end of the presentation. Lastly, if you think of a question in the middle of the night, or at another time, you can submit any additional questions at any time to [email protected]. This address is highlighted in the last slide of this presentation, so don’t feel like you need to copy that down.

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Let’s get started. Okay, so here’s the agenda for our time together. The presentation covers several topics including the Restart program’s authorization and purpose, eligibility, the state educational agency application process, administration of the program, serving non-public schools, allowable and unallowable uses of funds and then, as I’ve said before, I’ll take questions and identify resources. After the conclusion of this presentation, my colleague Christopher Tate will review the Temporary Emergency Impact Aid for Displaced Students program.

Let’s get into the authorization and purpose. The Restart Program was authorized by the Hurricane Education Recovery Act. Some of you may have heard of it as HERA. The law was enacted after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and modified by the Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 which was signed in the law by President Trump. During this presentation, it’ll be referred to as the disaster supplemental. The purpose of the Restart program is to provide funds for SEAs to help local educational agencies (LEAs) and non-public schools to fund expenses related to the restart of operations, and the re-opening of, and the re-enrollment of students in elementary and secondary schools in areas where a covered disaster or emergency was declared.

Congress appropriated $165 million to ED under the disaster supplemental that will be used to make new work under the Restart Program, the Emergency Impact Aid program and the Emergency Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education program, for expenses related to consequences of certain disasters in 2018 and 2019, which hereafter will be referred to as covered disasters and emergencies. Those include hurricanes Florence and Michael, typhoon Mangkhut, super typhoon Yutu, wildfires, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occurring in calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019.

Important to note that the specific amount available for the 2019 Restart program will be based on ED’s assessment of the relative need across the three funded programs as determined by such factors as the number of applicants and their demonstrated need for assistance. For this reason, awards to eligible 2019 Restart applicants may be adjusted downwards or upward to match available funding. Funds must be expanded within 24 months of obligation of the funds by ED and are available for obligation by ED until September 30th, 2020.

To verify eligibility at any time, the department has a list of covered disasters and emergencies, as of September 20th, 2019, at the link that you see here. But for the most up-to-date information about eligibility, please refer to the FEMA website which is www.fema.gov/disasters where new declarations are constantly posted.

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We’d like to also note that we are in the process of changing our website and you should refer to the link in this presentation for items pertaining to the 2019 Restart application process. We will follow-up as soon as possible with another correspondence to ensure you have all the information that you need. We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience. Again, if you have any questions our contact information will be at the end of the presentation. We’re more than happy to answer anything related to these processes.

We’ve been receiving questions related to eligibility for those unnamed disasters within the disaster supplemental. You remember that, there are some named disasters but then there are wildfires, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions occurring in calendar year 2018 and tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019. We will try to cover some of these questions now, in case some you have similar questions.

One question that we have received is, “If a flood occurs in 2018 in my state, but it was not declared on FEMA’s website until January 2019, is my event covered under the disaster supplemental?” The answer is unfortunately no. The flooding occurred in calendar year 2018 and therefore is not covered. The point to make here is that eligibility is based on the year that covered disaster or emergency occurred and not the year of declaration (which in some cases may not be the same).

A second question that we have been receiving is, “My state has had tornadoes occurring in both 2018 and 2019. Is my state eligible for disaster supplemental funding for both events?” Again, the answer is unfortunately no. Only disasters that occurred during the calendar year for which the disaster supplemental mentioned are covered. If multiple disasters or emergencies occurred in your state, only those that are covered are eligible for disaster supplemental funding.

We’re now going to move on to talk a little bit about the SEA application process. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to have the application that we posted in front of you for this portion of the presentation. You’ll notice that on the next slide is a direct link to that application. We’ve also attached it to several of our correspondences about this webinar and the application process. Providing you with guidance on how to complete the application is really the primary goal of this webinar. Through this application, ED is awarding Restart funds to SEAs that in turn provide funds to their LEAs, including charter schools and non-public schools. To receive a 2019 restart allocation a state must submit it to ED a complete application that includes all parts. Part A application cover sheet, Part B which is the 2019 restart funding plan and Part C, insurances and certification.

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All of this information is included within the application as well, but we wanted to make sure that we highlighted some logistical things. Please complete the cover sheet and its entirety including the signature of the chief state school officer or an authorized representative. To submit an application, please follow the submission instruction on page four of the application. There are two ways that you must application. Applications are due on October 23rd, 2019. However, please refer to slide 15 for information about submitting any updated data after the application deadline.

Submit the application in both of the following format. PDF, a copy and send it to [email protected] and please mail two copies via express mail including the cover sheet with the original chief state school officer or authorized representative signature to me, at the address listed here and within the application instructions. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask and again, the link here is the direct link to the application posting. If anytime you’re confused about where to find it, you can always refer back to this presentation and we’ll make sure that you have that.

Here just demonstrating my skills in being able to screen capture, but also so that you are aware that you have the right application in front of you. This is the cover sheet from that application.

Okay so let’s get into it. Again, please complete the cover sheet and its entirety including the signature of chief state school officer or authorized representative and both PDF and mail two copies to me. That is pretty much all that is involved in the application cover sheet.

Okay. Now, let’s get into the meat of it. The application as three main components: An education data section that provides ED, with the preliminary gauge of the impact of the disaster as we look at the number children impacted in affected public and non-public schools. The two factors that the statute acquires ED consider in making awards. We’ve been asked if data needs to include all public and non-public schools closed as a result of a covered disaster or emergency, or if a state could only supply data for those LEAs that are requesting restart funds. As required by the statute, please include data for all public and non-public school and the number of students those schools serve that were closed as a result of a covered disaster or emergency.

We’ve also requested that SEAs submit an appendix with a chart providing school data to support the summary tables in the application. Secondly, in the impact and needs assessment section, excuse me, we’re asking you to provide us with a description of the impact of the covered disaster emergency and the activities, materials and services required to Restart

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school operation, re-open schools and re-enroll students in each affected LEA and non-public schools.

And lastly, please provide us with estimated or actual cost of meeting the recovery need identified in the impact that need assessment section for which applicants proposed to use 2019 Restart Program funds for.

Part B is related to the education data. To give states maximum flexibility when providing data about school closure. States have discretion to the define closed for the purposes of this data. However, we request that SEAs include their definition of closed in the space provided above table one. Here are some examples that the SEA may use to define closed in this application. However, there very well may be other approaches that your state chooses and its definition of when a school was considered closed. Here’s some examples: (1) A school’s facilities was not being used at all and students were receiving no educational instruction, (2) A school’s facility was being used to provide some services, for example food or shelter but was not being used to provide any educational instructions, (3) Lastly, another example, a school’s facility was being used to provide some educational instructions, but the instruction was not comparable to educational instruction before the disaster.

Moving into to Part B, the impact and needs assessment. As we indicated earlier, as part of the disaster supplemental, applicants must describe impacts and needs as a result of a covered disaster or emergency in the impact and needs assessment section. This portion of the application is a place for you to tell us your story. In this section, we ask that you provide a narrative that explains the following: first, the names of the covered disaster or emergency that’s affected or is affecting LEAs and nonpublic schools. Secondly, a description of the impacts of the covered disaster or emergency on each affected LEA and non-public school. Third, a description of the activities, materials and services to restart school operations, re-open schools, and re-enroll students in each affected LEA and non-public school. Lastly, the description may cover activities that have been completed or prospective actions that are expected to occur over a period of time. Lastly, a description of the process for providing services or assistance under the Restart Program to LEAs and non-public schools; for example, subawards or reimbursement.

Part B is cost and proposed usage of the funds. The last section in Part B is cost and proposed usage of funds.

The last section of the application is the estimated or actual cost and proposed usage of funds, and I’ve said this about three times so, hopefully, that point has been made clear.

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Still Part B; in this section, applicants must identify estimated or actual cost of meeting the recovery needs identified in their impact and needs assessment, which they propose to pay with funds provided through the 2019 Restart Program. Applicants are encouraged to submit their best available data as of October 23rd, 2019; however, states may submit any amendments affecting applications under this program up to 30 days after the application deadline. Thirty days after the application deadline would put you at November 22nd, 2019. Please note that proposed allowable usage of funds may cover, and I’ve said this, activities already completed, or perspective actions expected to continue over the grant period of up to two years.

Now Part C. Not to jump ahead of myself. In Part C are those accountability and assurances. The first portion is an accountability statement which only applies to one state that received an initial 2019 restart payment. If you are not that State you may indicate not applicable here.

The second though is the compliance statement, and that is for everyone. The compliance statement requires that states sign off that they comply with all the requirements of the 2019 Restart Program. Most of these are the standard grant assurances; however, there are two assurances we’d like to point out: A heightened reporting assurance. The disaster supplemental designates the Restart Program to be susceptible to significant improper payments for purposes of the Improper Payment Information Act of 2002. Grantees will be required to undertake significant additional reporting as we implement plans to identify and reduce improper payment. We will provide additional information after we make awards, but as you begin to plan how you will provide assistance and services to eligible LEAs and non-public schools under the Restart Program, please keep these heightened requirements in mind; and secondly, a required LEA assurances. We want to remind SEAs that any LEA receiving funding under Restart must have on file with the state a set of assurances that meet the requirements of section 442 of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA).

Let’s just talk a little bit more about some general information related to the SEA administration of Restart. As we indicated earlier, or as I indicated earlier, ED is awarding Restart funds to state educational agencies that, in turn, provide assistance or services to their LEAs including charter schools and non-public schools. Any LEA or non-public school that serves an area in which a major disaster has been declared as a result of the covered disaster may apply to the SEA for services or assistance under the program. SEAs should remember to include affected charter schools in the covered disaster areas either as LEAs or as a school within an LEA, as appropriate.

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The SEA will determine what information an eligible entity will include in its application in order to ensure expedited and timely provision of services or assistance from LEAs or non-public schools.

An SEA may choose to award Restart funds to eligible LEAs via sub-grant, or the SEA may choose to provide services or reimbursement directly to eligible LEAs. There is no requirement that the SEA only provides funds on a reimbursement basis, though it may choose to do so.

A little bit more about the SEA award process. In determining the level of services or assistance to be provided to eligible LEAs or non-public schools, an SEA will consider the two following things: The number of school-age children served by the LEA or non-public school during the school year prior to the covered disaster or emergency, and the severity of the impact of the covered disaster on the LEA or non-public school and the extent of the needs of these LEAs and non-public schools.

In the next few slides, we’ll be referencing the April 2018 Restart FAQs which were drafted for the FY 2018 Restart Program, but still apply to the 2019 funds. Please note however that the specific disasters mentioned throughout those FAQs and the eligibility criteria is out of date for the 2019 grantees, and you can refer to information within this presentation for those details.

It’s also important to mention that the 2019 Restart grant period is 24 months from the date ED obligates the funds; for example, the date ED awards the funds to the SEA. Even if an SEA provides Restart funds to eligible LEAs through sub-grant, the expenditure period still begins when ED obligates the funds to the SEA and not when the sub-awards are made. Please see FAQ C5 and C8 for more information on that.

We’d like to talk a little bit about the use of Restart funds for non-public schools by introducing you to some relevant FAQs. You can find these in FAQ C7, F1 and F5.

Are SEAs required to reserve a portion of their Restart allocation to provide services or assistance to non-public schools? Yes. The legislation requires that the services or assistance for non-public school students be provided in a timely manner. SEAs must inform eligible non-public schools of the program, and engage in timely and meaningful consultation about the provision of services and assistance.

May an SEA award sub-grants to non-public schools? No. An SEA may not sub-grant Restart funds to a non-public school. When an SEA provides services or assistance under this program to a non-public school, the control

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of funds for these services or assistance must be maintained by the public agency. More information about serving non-public schools is within those 2018 Restart FAQs, and I urge you to take a look at those.

We’d also like to cover some allowable activities supported by the Restart funds, and this can be found in FAQ D1 and of course, as I just said, there’s much more extensive information related to this within those FAQs and so, again, feel free to refer to those as you are planning your application.

Here’s some of the allowable activities supported by Restart: Recovery of data, replacement of district information system, financial operations, reasonable transportation, rental of mobile units or spaces, initial replacement of instructional materials and equipment, redeveloping instructional plans, education and support services, specific educator-related costs, and other approved activities. Clearly, some of these are very broad, and more information about them and more specific examples within them, again, are referenced in those FAQs.

Then, for some unallowable activities - FAQ D10. We also like to highlight some unallowable costs under the 2019 Restart Program. These are construction or major renovation, purchasing land, replacing the loss of local tax revenue, providing working capital or providing debt service payments, paying the salaries or fringe benefits of teachers or other school personnel for periods during which they did not work, purchasing and planting trees or shrubbery on school property to replace those lost or damaged in the storm, supporting the cost of housing students and their families, and paying the cost of tuition for students enrolled in non-public schools.

I’m going to go back a minute to the allowable activities since I did not advance the slide, just to give you a second to take a look at that. I’m just going to give you a second to read that, but again, I urge you to take a look at those FAQs for some more specific information there and about these unallowable activities that we just went over.

Now, let’s talk a little bit the supplement not supplant provision which is referenced in FAQ D5. Is there a statutory supplanting prohibition governing the use of Restart funds? Yes. Restart funds must be used to supplement and may not supplant any funds made available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or through state. An eligible SEA, LEA or non-public school may use Restart funds for activities that may be supported from FEMA or a state source if the SEA, LEA or school has not received such other benefits by the time of the application for Restart and the SEA, LEA or school agrees to repay all duplicative federal assistance received to carry out the purposes of Restart; for example, an LEA may use Restart funds for costs that may ultimately be covered by FEMA; however,

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once it receives funds from FEMA for those costs, it must reimburse the Restart grant account. At the same time, the LEA may use those Restart funds for other allowable Restart costs. In the simplest of terms, double dipping is prohibited.

The operator will now read any questions that we received through the chat box, and then we’ll open the line for questions.

I just wanted to note here, we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to provide responses to all of your questions at this time; however, we’ll send a record of your questions and think through those that we’re unable to answer right now. I will turn it back over to our operator to help us with this process.

Lauren: If you would like to ask a question, please select “all panelists” from the dropdown menu in the chat panel, enter your question in the message box provided, and click enter to send. Alternatively, you may dial #2 on your telephone keypad to ask a question over the phone. You’ll hear a notification when your line is unmuted and at that time, you may state your question. So far, we do have one question in the queue: Is it possible to get the PowerPoint?

Female Speaker: Yes. We will be sending the PowerPoint along very shortly, so yes. We will be sending it along with all the relevant information and the links within, and we will be posting it on our website along with a transcript and a recording of this presentation so you can hear my voice for hours to come.

Lauren: Our next question: For EIA, what percentage of enrollment is required to qualify for a quarter?

Male Speaker: Can you ask the person to please clarify the question?

Lauren: Jeffrey, if you can please dial #2 so that we can speak to you on the phone.

Male Speaker: We will also be presenting on the Emergency Impact Aid Program at the top of the hour - so if you’d like to hold this question until then, happy to answer it now or we can wait.

Lauren: At this time, we don’t have any other callers in the queue, so we can go to the phone line.

Male Speaker: Perfect.

Lauren: Please go ahead. Caller, your line is unmuted go ahead.

Jeffrey: Well, do you guys want me to ask that question now, Chris, or until you present on EIA?

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Chris: Sure. Go ahead. Yes, we have time. Go ahead.

Jeffrey: Let’s say a student was an LEA on the recorded quarterly date, but they left that school after three weeks, are they counted for that LEA or not? It’s almost like being present for a quarter, is it counted or not?

Female Speaker: No. If they are present as a displaced student on the quarterly reporting date, then they may be recorded for that quarter.

Jeffrey: Okay.

Female Speaker: I just want to clarify for others that Jeffrey has asked the question about the EIA program, which is completely fine which my colleague, Christopher, will be presenting on at the top of the hour. So not to confuse others that might have some Restart-related questions, I wanted to make that distinction. Thanks for the question, Jeffrey. Lauren, do we have any other questions?

Lauren: We do not have any more verbal questions, but a couple more written questions have come in. What would an LEA sign for certification or assurances?

Female Speaker: Can you repeat the question?

Lauren: What would an LEA sign for certification or assurances?

Female Speaker: We’re going to put you on mute for one second.

Jane: Hi. This is Jane. First of all, the SEA has assurances that are in the SEA application. If the SEA chooses to run Restart through its LEAs, it has some flexibility to make additional requirements of what it expects the LEAs to do in order for the LEA to submit the data that the state needs to report in its application to us. There are application assurances certain references to other LEA assurances SEAs should already be on file with the state for other ed programs, but as a starting point, we suggest just reading through the SEA assurances and then if you have more detailed questions, get to that LEA assurances, get back through Molly or one of the other program people.

Lauren: The next question we have: On the Restart application, there is information regarding mold cleanup as allowable for non-public schools. Can we assume that any expenses that are allowable for non-public schools are also allowable for public schools and charter schools?

Female Speaker: What was that? Could you re-read the beginning part of that question?

Lauren: Yes. On the Restart application, there is information regarding mold cleanup as allowable for non-public schools. Can we assume that any expenses that

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are allowable for non-public schools are also allowable for public schools and charter schools?

Female Speaker: We’re going to put you on a mute for one second. Thanks for raising that.

Female Speaker: Thanks for that purpose. In general, cleanup activities are permissible; but we would argue to look at the Restart FAQs for more specific information and also in general, expenses for nonpublic schools are the same as those for public or charter schools. But again, the FAQs go into more detail about some nuances related to non-public schools.

Lauren: Our next question: In the EIA Program, there are specific assurances that the LEA has to sign off on. Is this the same for Restart?

Chris: For the Emergency Impact Aid Program, the districts are required to submit to the state an application that contains the data for students’ counts by quarter and by student type if you will. Within that application is a set of assurances that the district has to sign off on, so that’s specific to that LEA application.

Lauren: Great and we do have another caller on the phone. Please go ahead.

Female Speaker: Hi. My question is whether BIE schools will apply for Restart through the SEA or whether they will be doing a separate independent application?

Female Speaker: Yes. If a BIE school has Restart needs, ideally, it should also apply through the SEA, and the SEA should work with them and then with us to address whatever needs they have under the Restart Program. It’s kind of confusing just to kind of talk about Restart since we really haven’t talked yet about specifics under EIA; but EIA does have even more specific references to the BIE application for the Emergency Impact Aid Program.

Again, two different programs, two different applications, and yet BIE schools can be covered under both programs if they meet the criteria.

Female Speaker: Thank you.

Female Speaker: One also follow-up is BIE as agency is not eligible to apply for Restart like the SEA. You would be applying on behalf of the school. BIE would not be applying on behalf of the school.

Lauren: Another question has come into the chat: Can you please repeat what you shared during the presentation regarding the data table for public and non-public schools in section one?

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Female Speaker: Sure, yes. Hopefully this is what you’re talking about and if not, please chat back in: Part B, there it is…actually I’ll go back one more, there’s an education data section which provides ED with a preliminary gauge of the impact of the disaster as we look at the number of children impacted in affected public and non-public schools, and the two factors of the statute requires considering making awards.

We’ve been asked that the data needs to include all public and non-public schools closed as a result of a covered disaster or emergency, or if the state can choose the only supplied data for those LEAs that are requesting Restart funds. I think the difference there is: “Do you need to provide us all the data related to public and non-public schools that were closed as a result of the covered disaster; or after doing some outreach only supply us with the names of those public and non-public schools that are asking for Restart funds,” and the answer is that because as required by the statute, please include data for all public and non-public schools, and the number of students those schools served that were closed as a result of the covered disaster or emergency and not just the number of schools that are after doing some outreach that are requesting those funds. Hopefully that answers your question.

Female Speaker: One other detail is that we ask for data put out by all those closed between 10 and 29 days, and those closed for 30 or more days. We’re trying to get a sense of the significance of the closures; and I just want to make a note that for the 10 to 29 days and the over 30 days, those are non-duplicative counts.

Female Speaker: Lauren, any additional questions?

Lauren: We do not have any more questions in the queue at this time. I’m sorry, we’ve just gotten another one: If schools are not a in a disaster area, but we’re closed due to air quality from the wildfires, do those schools qualify?

Female Speaker: One of the things that would have to be done in that case would be to go back and look at the disaster declaration to see if the county that is referenced by that example that you just gave and to see if the county is covered by the declaration. If it isn’t and it kind of sounds like it wouldn’t be from the way the question was asked, then it wouldn’t be covered; but if it is in the declaration, and kind of a very nuance question like that is also something that we could certainly come back and provide more details to the program and they’re happy to help you out.

Also, back to the person who had asked about the LEA assurances: If you look at FAQ C2 of last year’s FAQs, that talks a bit more about the kinds of flexibility that the state has in what it might choose to require of LEAs in their Restart application, and it also makes reference to some of the general

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assurances that the SEA has to sign as a part of its application and how it submits with the LEA so you might want to go back and look at that section a little bit more.

Female Speaker: Lauren, do we have any other questions?

Male Speaker: There are no other questions at this time.

Jane: Okay. While people are maybe thinking of other questions, I just also wanted to highlight some resources and then some contact information. We'd like to highlight the hurricane help website, which is on the ed.gov website, which provides information to the public that connect users to FEMA and other providers of assistance immediately following a disaster.

I mentioned it before that we are having some website technical issues and so as part of that, the links to relevant 2019 application documents might not be working at this time, but we will make sure that we have a follow-up correspondence including this webinar so that you have all of that. It’s also really good for as a technical assistance resource to connect the public with both the Department of Ed and other federal and non-federal resources that aid students, families, and school communities and recovery. There are several topics included there, restoring education facilities, restoring the teaching and learning environment, financial recovery information. I urge you to take a look at that.

There's also a link here in our webinar to our non-regulatory guidance on flexibility and waivers for grantees and program participants impacted by federally declared disasters. When a disaster declared under the Stafford Act, the secretary is empowered to consider waivers from federal requirements and certain department programs and other potential forms of relief.

Generally, when natural disasters occur, Ed provides information about the flexibility and others available to help grants to use and maintain continuity of operations and education during their period of recovery. Then two additional resources here are the links to our readiness and emergency management for schools, technical assistance center which is one of our TA Centers which is managed by the Office of Safe and Supportive Students here in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. It's a really good resource to help to build preparedness capacity including prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts of schools, districts, and institution for the higher ed. There are community partners that the local states, territorial tribal, and federal levels. The center also serves as the primary source of information dissemination for schools, districts, and IHEs for emergencies via its website.

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Then lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention again our Restart, FAQs, which we have mentioned several times and it's a wonderful resource for those more specific questions.

Lastly, here is the contact information for both me and Meredith along with our phone numbers, as well as that restart mailbox where you will ultimately submit a PDF copy of your application along with these two expedited express mail hard copies of the application. Please do not hesitate to reach out to either Meredith or to me or submit additional questions to the [email protected] address.If there are any further questions, just double-checking, anything else?

Lauren: We have one question on the phone. Caller, please go ahead.

Jane: Okay. Thank you.

Female Speaker: Hi, can you hear me?

Lauren: Yes.

Jane: Yes.

Female Speaker: Great, I actually have two questions. I was the one that asked about the assurances and then, I mean, I guess you kind of answered the question in saying that it isn't really that they're signing assurances particularly, it's different than the Emergency Impact Aid. I also asked the question about repeating the information provided for that data table. When you said that all data has to be provided, not just the data for the schools that are requesting funds, how do you propose that a State get that information? I'm not even quite sure how we would know any of that information without reaching to the LEAs and having them tell us.

Molly: Yes, I mean, I think you would be needing to reach out to your districts to find out if there were full closures in the counties that were directly impacted. The eligibility list is on FEMA and the ones that we provided as a link show all the counties that were in the declared areas. We would recommend you contact the LEAs within those areas and ask them if they've been closed and if they have, what their needs are. We would want to know basically the extent of your school closures in your State as well as needs for the application.

Female Speaker: Okay. When you say that it would still be like they're applying but they wouldn't have to necessarily request funds for that, or you're still trying to get an estimated number of cost that they incurred during that time? Are you just trying to get the number of schools when you say that all of the data has to be provided?

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Jane: First of all, again, we're talking about two different applications. For the restart application, one of the pieces of data that the statute requires us to get is statistics on how many of your school districts were closed. Closed school districts certainly are experienced with the disasters in the preceding year or that there were... In Florida, for instance in 2017, every single district in the state was closed for a couple of days in events of those hurricanes, but at the end of the day, a number of those districts had no other impact other than those closure dates. The application is asking for the closure date and then there's a separate key about districts that had allowable restart expenses that would be recorded in the different section of the application.

Female Speaker: Okay, okay. That makes sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is, that there's no other way for us to get that data other than to have them submit an application or the information to us anyway. Other question I have about that data is that, in that table, the first two questions are about how many public schools were closed? That is just you want the total number regardless of how many days they may have been closed, correct?

Molly: Right. Yes.

Female Speaker: Do you have anywhere that we're supposed to be reporting for schools that were closed for less than 10 days because I see that that was something that must have been included in a previous restart application because it's in the old FAQ?

Molly: We can figure that out by taking the numbers in two and three and your total and doing the math, so we didn't feel like it was necessary. We're really trying to focus on the total and then those that were really closed for extended periods of time to get an understanding of the significance.

Jane: You do make a good point about using the FAQ. For the interim, for right now, we're kind of saying as soon as we have at the moment just to go back and use last year's FAQ, but as you pointed out, there are some flaws with that because the FAQs aren't completely up-to-date with the steps to this set of disasters.

For instance, one of the old FAQs talked about how there is no restart application deadline. That is not true for this year, there is an application deadline because there are so many more eligible disasters. We had to do the federal registry notice and we had to set an application deadline which is the deadline by which you must submit the restart application. If you have any confusion about what may or may not apply from the old FAQs while we are working on the updated ones, please contact the program and get clarification from us on whether there's something like that applied and doesn't apply.

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Molly: As Jane said, we are working to update those. We just wanted to make sure you had good information with the funds right now as you're applying. We're doing our best to get those updated. As Molly said, for all things related to the application process, please use this slide deck for guidance. Then if you want more specifics about uses of funds and how to work with the public and that sort of things, those won't change; those will be the case. Again, there is an application deadline on October 23rd as opposed to last year where we had a rolling basis. We want to make sure that's really clear for everybody.

Maureen: Hi, this Maureen Dowling from the Office of Non-Public Education, knowing that the deadline is October 23rd, one of the recommendations we'd like to make is within each state where there is a designated ombudsmen, they can be a helpful point of contact as far as connections with the private school communities because that is the designate that’s responsible for monitoring important connect role services and so they have contacts with your LEAs, and then those LEAs with public officials.

Also, many states have state level non-public school working group and they can be a wonderful resource to help you get in contact with private schools in order to expedite gathering information. If you are seeking specific information around the state level non-public school working group, please don't hesitate to email us and we'll get to you that information.

Molly: Lauren?

Lauren: Yes?

Molly: I think that we're at time, are there any additional questions before we transition to the EIA program?

Lauren: I think we have answered all the questions.

Molly: Wonderful. Thank you. Again, please don’t hesitate to use any of these contact information for additional questions you think of. I'm now going to bring this presentation over to my colleague Christopher Tate to discuss the EIA program…

Christopher: Great. Good afternoon. Welcome to those folks who are joining us only for the Emergency Impact Aid portion of the program. The Emergency Impact Aid program provides states with funds to reimburse local educational agencies, BIE-funded, and non-public schools for costs incurred educating public and non-public school students displaced by hurricanes Florence and Michael, Typhoon Mangkhut, Super Typhoon Yutu, and wildfires, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions occurring in calendar year 2018, and for tornadoes and floods occurring in 2019, in those areas for which a major

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disaster or emergency is declared under Section 401 or 501 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Act.

I’m joined today here at the department by the director of the Disaster Recovery Unit, Meredith Miller, and the attorneys for this program, Rachel Peternith and Jane Hess.

Additionally, today’s presentation has been informed by our colleagues in the Office of Non-Public Education, Maureen Dowling, who you all have an opportunity to hear from later and Budget Services. Please note that after today's presentation, our office will follow-up with attendees with additional information from the presentation and reminders for where to locate application information.

During the first part of today's webinar, we'll review the state and local eligibility criteria and the process and timeline for applying for funding to implement the program. The second part of the presentation focuses on the most frequently asked questions the department has received about Emergency Impact Aid. We will use that time to dive deeper into the technical requirements defining a displaced student, funding for BIE-funded and non-public schools, and reviewing the more technical aspects of implementing the program. The lines are muted. There will be time throughout the webinar to ask questions specific to our covered content in the chat box. Additionally, we will reserve time at the end of the presentation to address any lingering questions from participants.

The $165 million provided by Congress, a portion of which funds Emergency Impact Aid, is for State educational agencies to reimburse LEAs, BIE-funded, and non-public schools for cost associated with educating public and non-public school students, during the 2018-2019 school year, that were displaced by a qualifying disaster or emergency.

For the 2018-2019 school year, qualifying disasters, for which any state may receive funds to reimburse the costs of educating displaced students, include Hurricanes Florence and Michael, Typhoon Mangkhut, Super Typhoon Yutu, wildfires, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions that occurred only during the calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring only in calendar year 2019. Note that the list of eligible disasters, too large to be shared here, can be found on the Department’s Hurricane Help webpage. Additionally, the list of eligible disasters will be shared with attendees following today’s presentation.

Should you have specific questions about qualifying disasters in your state, or in other states for which you have received a displaced student, please

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reach out. We endeavor to ensure that everyone who is eligible, and desires to apply, has an opportunity to receive funding.

As I said earlier, Emergency Impact Aid is for recovering the costs associated with educating eligible displaced students for the 2018-19 school year and the 2018-19 school year only.

A state application, which I will display here, requires the state count by quarter for the 2018-19 school year - displaced students with disability, displaced English learners without disability, and all other displaced students.

States must choose one category that accurately represents the student’s status, students with a disability, English language learner or neither, and count the student in that one category only. However, if a student is displaced for multiple quarters, we expect that student will be counted in each quarter so the counts may be duplicative across the same category - for example, a displaced student identified as a student with a disability that arrives in a new school during the second quarter and remains all year, will be counted for the second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter based on their designation.

For the convenience of States, the Department has also created a template for collecting displaced student counts from LEAs. This template mirrors the state application. The Department has also created applications and lists for collecting displaced student count from BIE-funded and nonpublic schools. We will review those templates when we discuss the applicable requirements later in the presentation.

The state may adjust the quarterly count recording date in its application by ten days before or after the date that has been identified in the State application by the Department.

I want to pause here just to see if we have any questions at this point about the application process or eligibility.

Lauren: As a reminder, you may ask a question over the phone by dialing #2 or send a question to all panelists using the chat function on the right-hand side of your screen.

We do not have any questions at this time.

Christopher: The notice requires that LEAs provide the necessary count of displaced students to the State by October 13th. This is to ensure that the State has sufficient time to complete any necessary review of its data and to validate,

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to the best of their ability given the timeline, that their request to the Department on October 23rd is accurate.

Applications for this program must be submitted in both of the following two ways: First, submit an application in electronic portable document format or PDF, or in Microsoft Word format via email, to the Emergency Impact Aid mailbox at the address shown here in the presentation. Questions regarding application submission can be directed to me. My contact information will be shared at the end of today’s presentation. Second, you’re required to mail the original application, and two additional copies, via express mail to me. And, again, my information will be provided at the end of the presentation, but it can also be located on page seven in the application package.

States that receive funding under this program have until January 31st, 2020 to amend their application should initial count of displaced students need revision as the State reviews the data that has been submitted by the BIE-funded schools and LEAs.

The program is specifically for reimbursing allowable costs in the 2018-19 school year, and the program does provide until the end of May 2020 to ensure those bookkeeping reimbursements are accounted for; but again, obligations must have been for the 2018-19 school year. We’ll specifically address in greater detail adjusting prior school year accounting records later in the presentation.

Are there any questions at this time related to the timeline for administering the program that’s presented here? Lauren, do we have any questions coming into the chat box?

Lauren: At this time, we have no questions… I’m sorry. One has just come in.

Christopher: Sure. Go ahead.

Lauren: “EIA, what is due on October 13th? Or, did Christopher mean to say October 23rd?”

Christopher: In order for the State to submit its application to the Department on October 23rd, the statute requires that districts submit to the State their data, and that deadline is October 13th, and that allows time for the state to do any validations that it needs to do to ensure that the data that’s being submitted is indeed accurate and that they can submit their application to us on the 23rd with confidence.

Any other questions, Lauren?

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Lauren: No other questions at this time.

Christopher: Today’s frequently asked question comes from the guidance document, dated June 2018, that’s available on the Department’s Hurricane Help website under the K-12 program tab. We’ll discuss those questions that the Department most commonly receives, but we will not cover all of the questions for which the Department offers guidance.

States are encouraged to download and review the entire FAQ document. The eligible areas impacted by covered disaster identified in question A3 of the FAQ is not applicable to this year’s application cycle. All other guidance found in the FAQs are applicable to the 2019 Emergency Impact Aid program.

At this time, I’m going to hand it over to my colleagues from the Office of the General Counsel, Jane and Rachel, to talk about displaced students.

Jane: Hi. This is Jane. One of the questions about displaced students and that really makes a difference for the Emergency Impact Aid application is you really need to read the requirements of the definition and the definition is… two parts of the definition is the first element is that you have to have a student who one week prior to the declared disaster basically was residing in the disaster area, and then the keyword in the definition relates to enrolled because the second element of the definition is that you have a student who was basically in the disaster area one week prior to the disaster and then they enrolled in a different school as a result of the disaster.

The definition is there, in front of you, on slide nine, and there are a couple of questions that we have received in the past about this definition.

It doesn’t include, and we have received this question in the past, if you have, for instance, a school that has some damage but is still maybe operating elsewhere, or even operating in its original location, if the student remains enrolled in that first school, then they are not eligible to be counted as a displaced student. Even to say moved down the road to a different location, but they’re still enrolled in their original school, that is not an eligible displaced student.

We’ve had situations where two schools may have combined, and again, enrollment really is the key. If they have not enrolled in a different school, then that is not a displaced student, but if they have enrolled in a different school in the same district, then that is an eligible displaced student.

Any questions related to that?

Christopher: Lauren, are there any questions coming in in the chat box?

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Lauren: At this time, I don’t see any new questions.

Christopher: Excellent. We’ll hear a little bit more from Jane and Rachel in just a minute, but I wanted to talk about the fact that an SEA must provide funds to eligible BIE-funded schools.

The question that you see here is of importance during this application cycle for the Emergency Impact Aid program. Specifically, many States ,and indeed several tribal statistical areas or reservations, had areas declared a disaster where one or more BIE-funded school is located. Those students may have been displaced to other BIE-funded schools or surrounding schools as a result of the impact of the natural disaster for which the area received its declaration. As with the nonpublic school community, the program requires that outreach be conducted to BIE-funded schools such that they understand their eligibility. Eligible BIE-funded schools are schools in which at least one displaced student was enrolled in the school on the date of a quarterly count and it is operated by the BIE, or operated by a tribe or an organization controlled or sanctioned by an Indian tribal government for the children of that tribe under a contract with/or grant from the Department of The Interior.

Note that if you have questions about the designation of BIE-funded schools in your area, you can locate a list of schools by State on the Bureau of Indian Education’s website.

In the program application, the Department has provided a template application for BIE-funded schools that the State may modify and use when conducting outreach and collecting student counts.

The application, which I will show you here, as with the state application, requires the count for displaced students by displaced students with disability, displaced English learners without disability, and all other displaced students.

I’m going to pause here before going on to nonpublic schools to see if folks have any questions specifically about BIE-funded schools.

Lauren: We do have a question in the queue, but it actually relates back to enrollment.

Christopher: Okay.

Lauren: “Do students have to be enrolled in a new school enrollment system or the state enrollment system of the LEA system or SEA system?”

Christopher: I’m sorry. Can you say that one more time?

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Lauren: “Do students have to be enrolled in a new school through the school enrollment system or the state enrollment system,” and then right after that, “The LEA system or SEA system?”

Jane: The way the statute is written, it contemplates… that is two different LEAs. If somebody has more specific question related to how their state enrollment system works, maybe we could talk offline about that; but in general, our experience has been that it’s through the LEA system, but it’s not something that is defined in the statute - LEA versus state.

Christopher: Any other questions, Lauren?

Lauren: We do not have any other questions at this time.

Christopher: At this time, I’m going to hand it over to my colleague, Maureen Dowling, from the Office of Non-Public Education, to talk more about nonpublic schools.

Maureen: Hello everyone again. We’re on slide 12, and the question that we’re looking at is: “What must a parent or guardian of a nonpublic school student submit to an LEA or SEA as applicable so that school receives Emergency Impact Aid funding for that student?” As we discussed before, the program requires, and the state must speak to, the outreach it conducts to the non-public school community to ensure that those who are eligible to receive funding are aware of this opportunity and given the chance to apply. States must provide timely and meaningful consultation. The Department’s application package includes a sample application that you might refer to, and a sample non-public schools’ certification that a State may modify to meet its needs during the funding process. We recommend that State leads, or directors of the Emergency Impact Aid program, reach out to the ESEA ombudsman and the IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, state director to assist with identifying all the private schools in the impacted areas for outreach.

Since the SEA has an obligation to make equitable services under ESEA and IDEA available to eligible private school student and teachers, they are a great resource for gathering contact information for private schools and brokering connections. The non-public school parent application, which is on the next slide displayed here, allows for the parents to make a request of an LEA, to make a payment to the displaced student, or students’, Emergency Impact Aid account with a non-public school. Additionally, a non-public school that educated the displaced student, or students, must provide verification of the student’s enrollment and an understanding of program requirements. This form, displayed here, must be returned in order for the payment to be deposited into eligible student accounts. We’ll go back to the main slide now.

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Displaced students attending a non-public school must meet certain additional criteria. They must have enrolled in an eligible non-public school prior to June 6, 2019. For example, the date the president signed into law the legislation creating this program. The student’s parents must have chosen to enroll the student in a non-public school, and the student’s parents must submit a timely application for funding under this program to the LEA; including all required documentation. A non-public school must have waived some or all of the student’s tuition, or reimburse tuition previously paid for displaced students, in order to receive funds under this program. If it is not previously waived or reimbursed tuition, the school must reimburse tuition that was previously paid for a displaced student. Participating non-public schools would be considered a recipient of federal funds for the period that the parent is seeking the benefits.

For those that require further guidance on non-public school participation, we can provide that guidance as needed. I should just tell you that under Restart programs private schools are not considered recipients of federal financial assistance. Do we have any questions about the eligibility of non-public schools to receive funding under this program, or the process for awarding funds to non-public schools for serving displaced students?

Christopher: Lauren, do we have any questions coming into the chat box?

Lauren: Yes, we do. The forms displayed in the presentation are these linked somewhat in a way that we can share directly with LEA’s, an electronic form that can be shared, and where can I find that?

Christopher: Those resources are available in the application package, which can be found on the Hurricane Help website. And additionally, we have the template specifics to non-public schools and parents of displaced students to non-public schools posted there as well in the Word document format. And we will be sharing this information, as I had mentioned earlier with folks who are participating today, via email. Other questions?

Lauren: We do not have any other questions at this time.

Maureen: Alright, I’m going to invite my colleagues Jane and Rachel back to discuss the required actions to adjust the prior school years accounting ledgers and allowable uses of funds.

Jane: This is Jane again, so this is a tricky area and it is imperfect, both for you and for us. One of the things that we had difficulty with, and the school districts and states have difficulty with last year’s programs-- and it’s going to be the same for this year, is that the trick for the Emergency Impact Aid is that it

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has to be for expenses incurred in the 2018-2019 school year. And the problem is that, as you all know, the school year has concluded.

Different school districts in some states last year had trouble with how they could account for those funds. In other words, making an adjustment to the 2018-2019 school year after the fact, when you’re into the next school year. And to be honest, some of them actually couldn’t do it. Many of them could. And so, we just wanted to alert you to this from the start, and so, the important part is that it has to be for allowable expenses from the 2018-2019 school year.

Part of it will depend on what your state’s allowable audit procedures are. Our experience last year was that different states call it different things. In some cases, they were able to say that they could make an accounting adjustment in the 2018-2019 year to go back and show that they had basically, reimbursed themselves for these expenses that they had incurred back in 2017-2018. Some audit procedures allowed it to be called replacing, some called it adjustments, and a few of them just didn’t do it because they couldn’t figure out how to make it happen.

We expect that we probably will have more questions from you on this, but in the meantime, we wanted to alert you at the outset that this is an issue because what the statues requires is that it has to be for 2018-2019 expenses. Basically, the obligation has already been made and you need to figure out with your state and your LEAs if there are mechanisms available to go back and make that accounting change.

Rachel: Hi, this is Rachel. I’m going to talk for a second about those being allowable uses of funds for Emergency Impact Aid funds. One thing I just want to mention is that for purposes of this application period, the issue related to opening accounts that Jane just mentioned, as well as allowable uses of Emergency Impact Aid funds, are less critical than collecting the required information from LEAs, and non-public schools for your application. As you’ll note there’s really nothing in the application that requires any sort of financial description of types of activities. You will be funding, or really reimbursing, with these funds. The information on these slides is helpful, but you shouldn’t stress about it now. You should stress about making sure you get the data.

You’ll see on the slide here are examples of sort of, what types of activities and services Emergency Impact Aid program funds may be used to reimburse education costs for the 2018-2019 school year. And really, the key thing is that any sort of operational cost of the school would be potentially allowable provided the school is serving at least one, or more, displaced student. I’m not going to read all of these, because I think you guys can read

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them. And so, while the activities and services must in some way related to serving displaced students there is no sort of one-to-one requirement. For example, you can only reimburse the cost of a teacher’s salary if that teacher was serving displaced students.

Another example would be if the LEA was providing reasonable transportation to displaced students. There is no requirement that EIA funds only fund that one transportation line or budget that was serving displaced students. Rather the EIA funds provide reimbursement to that school’s regular transportation budget. And this is an area, again, where we have a lot of questions and concerns from auditors and others that don’t understand this aspect of the program. Again, as long as the school is surveying at least one or more displaced students it may reimburse itself for any of these costs related to serving students during the 2018-2019 school year.

And then, quickly what would be unallowable cost, and this is a big one, construction or major renovation of schools. However, if it was reasonably necessary at the time, during 2018-2019 school year, there was some minor remodeling, renovation or minor repairs, those could potentially be allowable expenses that could be reimbursed with Emergency Impact Aid funds. We’re going to stop there and ask if there are any questions.

Christopher: Lauren, you want to go ahead and either read any questions in the chat box or open the phone lines to participants.

Lauren: As a reminder you may submit a question through the chat by selecting ‘all panelists’ from the dropdown menu in the chat panel, answering your question in the message box provided and clicking enter to send. Alternatively, you may dial #2 on your telephone keypad to ask a question over the phone. You’ll hear a notification when your line is unmuted. At that time please state your question. All right, we do have a question in the chat. If a school enrolls at least one displaced student, is there a limit on the amount of the school’s budget that may be reimbursed?

Christopher: The FAQ does include the per student expenditure, and so, depending on how the student is identified they are able to be reimbursed for the cost of $2,125 for the general education population per quarter; $2,250 per quarter for English learner and $2,500 per quarter per student for those students who are reported as children with disabilities.

Rachel: This is an important distinction because Emergency Impact Aid is a little different than the Restart program. Restart districts have more flexibility to actually kind of, load in what their actual costs were related to the disaster. And as Christopher was just saying for Emergency Impact Aid there is a

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specific statutory per quarter amount for the three different types of children that can be claimed in an Emergency Impact Aid application.

Christopher: And if you have further questions about allocations, and the amount available per student, you can find those in section D of the FAQs that are posted on the Hurricane Help website. Any other questions Lauren?

Lauren: At this time, I do not see any other questions in the queue.

Christopher: Any questions from folks on the phone that they want to ask before we move on?

Lauren: Actually, another question just came in. Could a district identify district-level expenditures?

Christopher: A district is able withhold up to two percent of its allocation for administrative costs under the program.

Jane: The state can reserve one percent also. There are FAQs about how a state, in some cases, actually advanced additional money to their districts when they have a larger number of displaced students, so there are more detailed FAQs about the proportions that a state might be able to recoup beyond this 1% admin reservation if indeed it did advance some costs. The other kind of clarification is just to make sure to go back and look at the statute and/or ask us questions later on. The statute also has another provision related to the non-public school students. If for instance, you had a non-public school student who was an English learner, but the tuition for the quarterly amount was less than that quarterly amount that Christopher had shared, the statute requires that you only provide to the non-public school the maximum of the tuition amount. What we’ve seen last year with this is sometimes that difference with the non-public school and what the tuition amounts are, some states didn’t take a 1% for their admin cost, but they might have taken some of the leftover money that might have cropped up because of the distinctions in the non-public tuition school amount. Obviously, we would encourage you to get as much money as possible under the quarterly amount to the district, but sometimes people were taking their admin costs out of the differences that were available because of the non-public tuition.

Christopher: Any additional questions, Lauren?

Lauren: At this time, I don’t see any other questions.

Christopher: All right. In close, I just want to share with everyone my contact information. During the application process, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. I’ve established office hours during the application

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process and so from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, through the application deadline of October 23rd, you’ll be able to reach me at the number shown here and I’ll be available to talk through any questions that you have specific to the Emergency Impact Aid Program. Outside of those hours, you can email me at my listed personal email address or at the listed mailbox for the program and I’ll ensure that we get a response back to you as soon as possible. With that, thank you for your time and please don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have further questions.

Lauren: That concludes our conference. Thank you for using AT&T Event Conferencing Enhanced. You may now disconnect.

[END OF TRANSCRIPT]

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