Maintenance of Equity
Under the ARP Act, as a condition of receiving ARP funds, a Local Educational Agency (LEA) may not, in each fiscal year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023:
- Reduce combined State and local per-pupil funding for any high-poverty school by an amount that exceeds the total reduction, if any, of combined State and local per-pupil funding for all schools in the LEA; or
- Reduce the number of staff per-pupil in any high-poverty school by an amount that exceeds the total reduction, if any, of staff per-pupil in all schools in the LEA.
A “high-poverty school” is, with respect to a school served by an LEA, a school that is in the highest quartile of schools served by the LEA based on the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the school.
Maintenance of Equity Exemptions
The following LEAs are exempt from the ARP Maintenance of Equity requirements:
- LEAs that have total enrollment less than 1,000 students.
- LEAs that operate a single school.
- LEAs that serve all students within each grade span with a single school.
- LEAs that have been granted an exception by the U.S. Department of Education due to an exceptional or uncontrollable circumstance under section 2004(c)(2)(D) of the ARP Act.
- Each LEA that has certified to the Florida Department of Education that it did not have an aggregate reduction in combined State and local per-pupil funding, thereby justifying an exceptional or uncontrollable circumstance under section 2004(c)(2)(D) of the ARP Act, in the fiscal year for which the exception applies.
Transparency and Compliance
All non-exempt LEAs will be required to report the following data to the Florida Department of Education to demonstrate compliance with Maintenance of Equity requirements, no later than October 31, 2022, for 2021-2022 data, and no later than October 31, 2023, for 2022-2023 data:
- The per-pupil amount of funding for each high-poverty school in the LEA in fiscal years 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023, as applicable for the year for which the data are published.
- The per-pupil amount of funding in the aggregate for all schools in the LEA, on a districtwide basis or by grade span, in fiscal years 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023, as applicable for the year for which the data are published.
- The per-pupil number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff (which may be indicated as the number of students per FTE staff) for each high-poverty school in the LEA in fiscal years 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023, as applicable for the year for which the data are published.
- The per-pupil number of FTE staff (which may be indicated as the number of students per FTE staff) in the aggregate for all schools in the LEA, on a districtwide basis or by grade span, in fiscal years 2020‑2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023, as applicable for the year for which the data are published.
- Whether the LEA did not maintain equity for any high-poverty school in fiscal years 2021-2022 or 2022-2023, as applicable for the year for which the data are published.
The Florida Department of Education will determine an LEA out of compliance by November 15 of the applicable year, unless an extension to submit required data is granted. Any LEA that is not in compliance with Maintenance of Equity requirements will be required to submit to the Department a plan describing the adjustments the LEA will make to be in compliance prior to the start of the next school year. The plan will be due no later than December 15, 2022, for 2021-2022, and no later than December 15, 2023, for 2022-2023.
List of Exemptions and High Poverty Schools by LEA
The following spreadsheet includes a list of LEAs in the state and indicates whether the LEA is exempt from ARP Maintenance of Equity requirements. For every LEA that is exempt, the basis for the exemption is indicated. For every LEA that is not exempt, a list of high poverty schools is provided.