The ESSER III-ARP grant includes a Maintenance of Equity (MOEquity) provision that state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) must fulfill for fiscal years 2022 (FY22) and FY23. The intent and purpose of the provision is to ensure that LEAs, schools, and students that already experience opportunity gaps are not disproportionately impacted by any funding reductions that might result from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maintenance of Equity Requirements
SEA MOEquity Requirements
According to the provision, SEAs are required to prove that they do not disproportionately reduce:

• Per-pupil funding for high-need LEAs beyond the statewide per-pupil funding reduction
• Per-pupil funding for highest-poverty LEAs beyond the statewide per-pupil funding reduction

LEA MOEquity Requirements

LEAs must demonstrate that they do not disproportionately reduce:

• Per-pupil funding in high-poverty schools
• The number of full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff per-pupil in high-poverty schools

High-poverty schools are defined as the upper quartile of all schools in the LEA’s district, when ranked from highest to lowest poverty percentage.

Not all LEAs that receive ESSER III-ARP funding are required to fulfill the MOEquity reporting requirements. LEAs are exempt from meeting MOEquity requirements if they meet one or more of the below criteria:

• Total enrollment of fewer than 1,000 students
• Operate a single school
• Only operates one school per grade span
• Experience an extreme and uncontrollable change in enrollment, funding, or FTEs that result in drastic changes to per-pupil funding and FTE counts

Maintenance of Equity Reporting

ARP MOEquity Submission to USED (7/30/21)

MOEquity LEA Exemption Template

FY22 Maintenance of Equity Requirement

FY23 Maintenance of Equity Requirement

Maintenance of Equity Resources

USED MOEquity Guidance and FAQs (8/6/21)