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June 11, 2021
Updates in this email:
Today, the Minnesota Department of Education released the class of 2020’s graduation rate data. Overall, Minnesota high school seniors reached another historic graduation rate high of 83.8% (56,684 students) who graduated in 2020. This continues an upward trend for Minnesota’s statewide four-year graduation rate, which has increased 1.3 percentage points in the last five years. Additionally, 3,490 students from earlier classes also earned their diplomas in 2020, graduating five, six or seven years after beginning high school. Read the full release.
Last month, Governor Walz announced that he would use $75 million in flexible American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to support summer learning and help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. MDE will hold two repeated virtual sessions to explain and answer questions on these funds. Public charter schools, districts, intermediates and cooperatives will receive general allocations from this $33.614 million for programming that will support academic enrichment and mental health starting in summer 2021 for students, communities, and schools. Additional information is below. Click the date and time to register:
Registration Password: Summer
MDE encourages programs to create partnerships and provide services in the following areas:
- Expand mental health and well-being supports to youth and adolescents attending school district and charter school summer learning programs.
- Partner with community businesses and organizations to develop a summer mentor and/or tutoring model that covers enrichment programming and other costs such as transportation and meals to increase student participation.
- Bring school-based summer programs into the community, providing opportunities for enrichment, social and emotional skill building, mental health supports, and tutoring services.
- Provide students with summer field trips for hands-on learning opportunities. Hands-on learning opportunities include activities such as trips to nature centers, state parks, zoos, museums or theaters.
These funds are prioritized for use in summer 2021 with the intent to establish programming to support students as soon as possible. The funds can be used through August 2022.
There have been many questions about the federally-required Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plan. As a condition of accepting the ESSER III award (FIN160 & FIN161), the LEA must develop, with community input, a Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plan and post it for public comment. The plan and a summary of the public comment must be posted on the LEA website within 30 days of receiving the ESSER III award (the due date for Minnesota LEAs is June 21, 2021).
The requirements for the ESSER III Safe Return to In-Person Learning Plan can be found in the Interim Final Rule and must describe how “[the LEA] will maintain the health and safety of students, educators, and other staff and the extent to which it has adopted policies, and a description of any such policies, on each of the following safety recommendations established by the CDC.”
With the 2020-21 Minnesota Safe Learning Plan, Minnesota LEAs created local Safe Learning Plans to help guide operations and response to COVID-19 throughout the school year. These plans should have been developed in partnership with the local incident command team or advisory council consisting of school board members, bargaining units, staff, students and families (page 9).
The recent FAQ document from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) highlighted in A-4: “[a]n LEA that developed a school reopening and continuity of services plan prior to the date of enactment of the ARP Act and that meets the above requirements for public comment will be deemed in compliance but, within no more than six months, the LEA must review and, if necessary, revise the plan to meet the requirements of the interim final requirements.”
Local Safe Learning Plans that were created for the 2020-21 school year can be used to fulfill this federal requirement, knowing that your plans will likely change based on forthcoming fall 2021 guidance/recommendations from MDH. These plans should be posted to the district or charter school website by the June 21 deadline along with a summary of comments obtained when the plan was created, if any comments were received by the LEA.
This process should be considered and followed as LEAs plan for the upcoming 2021-22 school year and ongoing, on a six month cycle. In the future, LEAs must retain and post documentation of the plan development, plan review, public comment, and summary of public comment.
If your LEA is in the process of compiling your 2021-22 plan, these plans and a summary of public comments will need to be posted to the district website by the June 21 deadline. There are many resources you can use to help you put your plan together:
Email mde.federalCOVIDfunds@state.mn.us with questions.
ADSIS Grant Application Open through June 18
The documentation for the Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services (ADSIS) for Fiscal Years 2022-2023 Grant Opportunity including the instructions, application, and budget documentation is still available on MDE’s grant opportunity site.
MDE makes this funding available to Minnesota public school districts and charter schools for the purpose of providing direct instruction and services to K-12 students and preschool students who are part of district programs that generate general education revenue and who may need additional academic and behavioral supports to succeed in the general education environment and who may eventually qualify for special education if the prevention services were not available. Please see the grant instructions for the specific, allowable outcomes for this funding program.
We want to recognize the record number of applicants that applied and have already been awarded with ADSIS funds for FY22 and FY23. We also want to recognize the challenges that are associated with educating during a pandemic, so we have chosen to extend the ADSIS application deadline until June 18, 2021. In order for application reviews to take place and for funding decisions to occur at the start of FY22, late applications will not be accepted beyond June 18, 2021.
MnDOT, MDE light I-35W Bridge June 11-12 to honor Minnesota’s 2021 graduates
The Interstate 35W St. Anthony Falls Bridge in Minneapolis will display the colors of Minnesota state high schools on the evenings of Friday, June 11, and Saturday, June 12, as a tribute to the graduating Class of 2021, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota Department of Education.
The colors of the American Flag will begin the light show each night 30 minutes before sunset and end the show 30 minutes after sunrise. Presentation of the high school colors begins at 9:40 p.m. There will be 86 color combinations changing every five minutes. View a time lapse video of the changing colors.
The I-35W Bridge is equipped with a computerized lighting system that allows the agency to color the bridge with light in almost any color. It is often lit in various colors – as a public service and at the request of organizations – to commemorate widely recognized or historical events or annual celebrations; to enhance awareness efforts; or to recognize a specific occasion, event or person of statewide or national significance.
Annual Verification of District and School Site Information for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021-22
Each year, information regarding schools and districts/charters is updated in the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) master database for organizations (MDE Organization Reference Glossary (MDE-ORG)). MDE-ORG validates sites for all major MDE reporting systems, such as the Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS), Staff Automated Reporting (STAR), Uniform Financial Accounting and Reporting Standards (UFARS), Assessments, etc. It is important that a point person is identified as the Site Verification Coordinator for your district. This person has access to request and certify school configuration changes and update other essential contact and address information for all sites within the district.
We ask that you review your organization and school sites, including contacts and addresses, and make changes for the 2021-22 school year. To ensure data collections, payments, and reports are correct, organization and school site information and contacts for the 2021-22 school year must be reviewed and certified by August 31, 2021 Please read the Annual Verification of District and School Site Information for SFY 2021-22 memorandum found on the District and School Site Verification page. This memorandum outlines the timeline and steps to maintaining accurate district and school site directory information which is critical in correctly processing records for your district including students, staff, payments, and federal programs. If you have any questions, please email mde.school-verify@state.mn.us.
Reminder: Public Comment Period on American Rescue Plan Education Funds
Due to the extension of Minnesota's deadline to submit our plan, we have reopened the public comment survey which closed on June 1. The survey will now be open through 4 p.m. on Monday, June 21. See additional information below:
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 was enacted into law which includes $1.3 billion for E-12 education in Minnesota to help schools returning to, and maintaining, safe in-person learning for all students. Per the federal law, 90% of these funds have been allocated to eligible districts and charter schools. Another 9.5% of these funds are for flexible use by each state education agency to create a plan to meet the needs of students. As a result, MDE is asking for feedback and input on how the 9.5% could be used. A form is being used to collect feedback in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish. Additional information is also available in Hmong, Karen, Somali and Spanish. Feedback in Karen can be emailed to mde.federalcovidfunds@state.mn.us. The public comment period ends on June 21.
Please note, this public comment does not apply to the ARP's State Fiscal Recovery Fund. Those funds are separate from Minnesota’s $1.3 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) funds under the ARP.
Reminder: Digital Equity Survey Coming in Late June
Heading into the 2021-22 school year, school districts and charter schools are strongly encouraged to collect information from families regarding student access to Internet and technology devices. Staff at MDE have been working with district technology coordinators and MARSS coordinators on this initiative and will continue to do so over the summer. Schools will receive a sample survey template in late June, which can be used to collect information from families, which will then be reported to MDE. The reporting deadline will be October 1, 2021.
In addition to state-level uses for this data (which may inform statewide initiatives, such as public-private partnerships to increase digital access), there are many local-level uses for this data and we hope all school districts and charter schools will participate in data collection.
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