JUNEAU — The U.S. Department of Education this week designated Alaska as “a high-risk grantee” because it said the state failed to fairly distribute COVID-19 relief to school districts.
The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act gave over $125 billion to schools across the nation to help cover pandemic-related costs. A March 27 letter from the U.S. Department of Education says that as a condition of receiving $359 million in federal COVID funding, Alaska is required to give $30 million to the highest-need schools in four districts.
The Alaska Department of Education said it “disputes that claim in the strongest possible” terms. According to a March 22 letter, the state says it has already complied with federal requirements and that it doesn’t believe it needs to give out additional funding to districts.
“This is an incredibly surprising conclusion considering we funded our schools as we always have,” said Education Commissioner Deena Bishop in a prepared statement on Thursday.
The U.S. Education Department warned in December that the high-risk designation was possible unless the funding issue was resolved. The state plans to ask for reconsideration of the high-risk designation within a 10-day window.
In its March 27 letter, the U.S. Education Department listed amounts federal officials said were still owed to four Alaska school districts. That included $16.6 million for Anchorage School District; $9.7 million for Kenai Peninsula Borough School District; $3.1 million for Fairbanks North Star Borough School District; and just over $200,000 for Juneau School District.
Kenai Superintendent Clayton Holland said school administrators are trying to resolve a $15 million deficit. An extra $9.7 million in funding could help prevent staff cuts and an increase in class sizes, he said.
“That would be wonderful news for Kenai and I’m sure those other districts as well,” he said Thursday.
Maintenance of equity
The unresolved funding issue relates to a “maintenance of equity” provision in the American Rescue Plan Act, which was new for federal funding measures. That provision required states not to reduce funding during the pandemic for low-income students at the highest-need schools. The Alaska Education Department says it made no such reductions, and that the state’s funding formula was equitable.
Drastically changing enrollment patterns during the pandemic created challenges for states. Around 41 states had issues with the first tranche of federal COVID relief for schools, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. All but one state has resolved those concerns.
“Alaska is the only state that has not met or presented a sufficient plan for meeting these requirements,” said Adam Schott, deputy assistant secretary at the federal Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in the March 27 letter.
If Alaska remains out of compliance with federal law, COVID funding may be recovered by the federal government. Federal school grant funding for Alaska may also be withheld, Schott said.
Alaska is set to receive $425 million in federal school grants for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Anchorage Democratic Sen. Löki Tobin, co-chair of the Senate Education Committee, said the “high-risk” designation was a serious matter. The federal government could look more closely into the Education Department’s finances, which could place a greater administrative burden on already-strained state officials, she said.
“It puts us into a very precarious position,” she said. “I can hope that the federal government would give us some leniency, but they clearly have been for two years. And now they have to use the stick approach because we are not meeting our obligation and commitment that we agreed to when we took these relief funds.”
‘Great concern’
The Dunleavy administration was given 30 days to request $30…
This article was originally published by a www.adn.com . Read the Original article here. .