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May 12, 2023
Updates in this email:
MDE is celebrating Minnesota teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week this week, May 8–12. Commissioner Willie Jett would like to share a Teacher Appreciation Week message of thanks to teachers for their leadership and commitment to students.
Please read the Summary of Audit Requirements FY2023 Audits on the Division of School Finance's Financial Management webpage. Minnesota Statutes require reporting of audited financial data to be completed by statutory deadline. This memorandum explains the process of these audit requirements. Please share with anyone who deals with audits.
If you have questions, contact Pam Sanders.
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) announced the final timeline for restarting annual renewals in public health care programs. With Medicaid eligibility newly becoming a part of direct certification, which is currently tied to the compensatory revenue formula, schools could be affected by this change.
Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare renewals were paused during the pandemic. Renewals are now restarting. The more than 1.5 million Minnesotans on Medical Assistance and MinnesotaCare will need their program eligibility reviewed through a renewal process by May 2024.
Please visit DHS's Renew My Coverage communications toolkit for resources in multiple languages. Please share the messages in this toolkit with your district and school communities.
On April 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the 2023 Clean School Bus (CSB) Grant Program. This is the first grant funding opportunity through the multi-year funding program and follows the 2022 CSB Rebate Program, which was the first round of funding. Under the 2023 Grant Program, EPA anticipates awarding approximately $400 million in competitive grant funding to eligible applicants for purchasing zero-emission (ZE) school buses, clean school buses and ZE charging infrastructure.
This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) includes two sub-programs, one for school district and Tribal applicants (School District Sub-program) and one for third-party applicants (Third-Party Sub-program). EPA is providing two separate competitions under this single NOFO to address the needs and concerns of diverse recipients and encourage participation in the CSB grants program.
EPA is prioritizing applications that will replace buses serving high-need local education agencies, rural areas, Tribal school districts funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and public school districts receiving basic support payments for students living on Tribal land, and rural areas. In addition, EPA is committed to ensuring the CSB Program delivers on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative that at least 40% of the benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities.
The NOFO will be open for 120 days. Applicants must submit all grant application materials to Grants.gov by Tuesday, August 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
EPA will host a series of public webinars regarding this NOFO from May through August to provide potential applicants with an overview of the NOFO and how to apply. Webinar registration links will be posted to the Clean School Bus Webinars webpage.
If anyone has a question about the 2023 BIL CSB NOFO, submit the question to cleanschoolbus@epa.gov. Please include “Clean School Bus NOFO Question” in the subject line of your email. The deadline for submitting questions via email is Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The Minnesota Department of Education will collect recently arrived English Learner (RAEL), Active Duty Parent (ADP), students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE), and Immigrant data elements via the Student Support Data Collection (SSDC) Systems. All information must be entered by June 1 for use in reporting, funding and accountability calculations. Students appear in the SSDC system with a recent error-free MARSS submission. Only approved SSDC Coordinators are able to access the secure SSDC system to identify students.
All LEAs must submit data in the SSDC for school year 2022-23. For school year 2022-23, RAEL, ADP, SLIFE, and Immigrant data elements will be pulled from the SSDC submission system. Moving into school year 2023-24, all LEAs who are Ed-Fi certified for MARSS will be expected to report these data elements through Ed-Fi. This means the SSDC data must be input in your district or charter’s student information software where it will live and thus be submitted to MDE via the Ed-Fi Application Programming Interface (API). In school year 2023-24, any LEA not yet certified for MARSS will be expected to report in the SSDC. Stay tuned throughout next school year for reminders and tips on SSDC data being submitted in Ed-Fi.
Questions regarding identification or programmatic issues can be directed to mde.el@state.mn.us. Technical questions regarding Ed-Fi issues can be directed to ed-fi.mde@state.mn.us.
Read the April 27 memorandum regarding Career and Technical Education (CTE) Levy Reporting from Assistant Commissioner Angela Mansfield, Office of Educational Opportunity, and Sally Reynolds, Director of the Career and College Success Division. The CTE Levy reporting system will open May 2 for entering the anticipated FY24 (2023-2024 school year) budgets. Budgets must be entered for approved CTE programs by June 6.
Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.4531, directs the Minnesota Department of Education to annually recalculate the authority of a school district to levy for costs associated with its CTE programs. Districts must submit annual budgets for their CTE programs to qualify for this permissive levy.
For assistance with detailed questions about the CTE Levy Program System, contact Shelli Sowles, 651-582-8403.
The 2023 Read Well by Third Grade (RWBTG) online submission platform is now open. This data is required of all Minnesota districts and charter schools that enroll students in grades K–2 and is due to MDE annually by July 1. Please see the RWBTG Launch Memo for further information.
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