ADE FAQ: CARES Act FY20 Fiscal, Assessment & Accountability Waivers

Under the CARES Act, the U.S. Secretary of Education has increased authority to provide education waivers related to assessments, accountability, and reporting requirements. Arizona has submitted and received approval for two waivers:

Fiscal Waiver

ADE will now be able to do the following:

• Approve LEAs to carryover more than 15% of FY20 Title I-A funds even if the LEA received approval to exceed this limitation in the past three years
• Extend the period of availability of FY19 funds to September 30, 2021 for the following ESSA grant programs: (Title I-A, I-B (State Assessment), I-C (Migrant), I-D (State Agency), II-A, III-A (EL), IV-A (Student Support and Academic Enrichment), IV-B (21st Century Community Learning Centers), V-B (RLIS), McKinney-Vento (Homeless)
• Permit LEAs to use their FY20 Title IV-A funds to best meet local needs through waiving content-area minimum expenditure requirements (for LEAs receiving more than $30,000) and the 15% limit on technology-related purchases
• Waive the ESSA definition of professional development for SY19-20 to allow ADE and LEAs to conduct time-sensitive, one-time, or stand-alone professional development activities

If your LEA would like to take advantage of this new flexibility for FY20 Title IV-A funds, please contact your Title IV-A Specialist.

Please also see the following FAQ for the FY20 Fiscal Waiver: ADE FY20 CARES Act Fiscal Waiver FAQ

Assessment and Accountability Waiver

The following are now waived for ADE for SY19-20:

• Statewide assessment requirements
• Requirements that a state identify new schools for comprehensive support and improvement and additional targeted support and improvement (CSI and TSI) based on SY 19-20 data, and freezes the current list of identified schools for SY 20-21
• Report card provisions related to certain assessments and accountability