Department of Education Draft Guidance

July 15, 2009

The Department of Education issued draft guidance on how to request waivers under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  This guidance is for state educational agencies, local educational agencies (LEAs), Indian tribes, and schools that receive funding under Title I, Part A.

Title I, Part A funds go to LEAs to help schools serving high concentrations of low-income students.  The aim is to help these schools improve instruction so that low-achieving students will meet State academic achievement standards.

ED had indicated previously that the Secretary would consider certain waiver requests related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (which provides $10 billion in new funding in fiscal year 2009 for Title I, Part A).  Yesterday's guidance follows up on that by providing comprehensive information on how to request waivers of specific statutory and regulatory provisions of Title I, Part A, including those affected by ARRA funds.

The draft guidance and Appendix I to the draft guidance can be found under "Title I, Part A Recovery Funds for Grants to Local Educational Agencies" by following the link to the guidance and Appendix I directly at http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/title-i-waiver.doc and http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/title-i-waiver-appendix.xls.  (Note that Appendices A-H can be found at the end of the draft guidance.)