Emergency Memo

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

July 6, 2021
MEMORANDUM
TO:

Lindsay Abate
Office of Management and Budget Desk Officer

FROM:

Ian Rosenblum
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Programs
Delegated the Authority to Perform the
Functions and Duties of the Assistant Secretary
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education

RE:

Emergency request for Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) approval

Pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 CFR
1320, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) requests that the following
collection of information to be collected from State educational agencies (SEAs) that
receive funds under the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School
Emergency Relief Homeless Children and Youth (ARP HCY) Fund, under section 2001 of
the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021, Public Law 117-2 (ARP) be processed in
accordance with section 1320.13 Emergency Processing.
These resources are specifically provided for the purposes of identifying homeless children
and youth, providing wraparound services in light of the impact of the COVID-19
pandemic, and providing assistance needed to enable homeless children and youth to
attend school and participate fully in school activities. The Department recognizes that
students, schools, local educational agencies (LEAs), and SEAs need resources as quickly
as possible to address the evolving nature of the pandemic and meet the needs of students
experiencing homelessness. The Department also recognizes that it takes some time to
build capacity at the SEA and LEA level to thoughtfully administer these funds. Therefore,
the Department has decided to disburse the funds following the submission of a set of
assurances and pending the submission of a detailed State plan within 60 days of signature.
In April 2021, each SEA was awarded one-fourth of its total ARP-HCY allocation.
Emergency rulemaking was sought to establish a new rule for the distribution of funds by
formula from the SEA to LEAs. Upon establishment of the final requirements, the
Department will require the submission of an ARP-HCY application before the remaining
three-fourths of each SEA’s allocation is awarded. This application will include a set of
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assurances and will require the submission of a state plan within 60 days of the final
requirements being published in the Federal Register.
These plans, consisting of eight questions total, must describe how the SEAs will use up to
25 percent of funds for State-level activities to provide training and technical assistance;
how the SEAs will use the first disbursement of funds to award competitive subgrants
and/or supplement existing EHCY subgrants; how the SEA will ensure that ARP-HCY
supplements the support and services provided with ARP-ESSER funds; and how the SEA
will use its State-level activities funds to award subgrants or contracts to community-based
organizations to identify children and youth experiencing homelessness in historically
underserved populations.
We anticipate that 52 SEAs will respond, and we estimate that the application will take 2
hours for each SEA to complete. We estimate that the plan required by the application will
take 20 hours for each SEA to complete. Therefore, we estimate a total burden of 22 hours
for each SEA and a total burden of 1,144 hours. In addition, we estimate that 15,000 LEAs
will apply to their states for funds. We estimate each application will take 10 hours for a
total of 112,500 burden hours. The projected costs to LEAs receiving funds through a
formula are less than the projected cost to LEAs under the competitive subgrant approach
required in McKinney-Vento Act. As a result, this approach will produce a net savings to
LEAs that would have participated in the competitive subgrant competition.
These final requirements, and the information collection activities within them, provide
clear guidance to SEAs and LEAs on plan requirements that will allow them to fully utilize
their ARP HCY funds in compliance with the ARP. These requirements and the collection
activities within them will promote accountability, transparency, and the effective use of
funds to ensure that SEAs and LEAs meet the statutory requirements. For these reasons,
the Department is requesting emergency approval for the ARP-HCY application so that
SEAs can receive their remaining ARP-HCY funds to address the immediate needs of their
students and schools.
If this emergency collection is not approved, the Department will not be able to carry out
its oversight responsibilities of the $800 million while also ensuring that SEAs receive the
resources they need to immediately address COVID-19-related needs, such as
identification of students experiencing homelessness and addressing needs related to
instructional support, transportation, housing, clothing and school supplies. This
emergency collection will enable SEAs the ability to award ARP Homeless II funds by the
start of the 2021-2022 school year, which is important as the beginning of the school year
is a particularly busy time for identifying and serving students experiencing homelessness.
We request approval of this submission consistent with the release of the final
requirements on July 6, 2021. Given the inability to seek public comment during such a
short timeframe, the Department will publish a 60-day and subsequent 30-day comment
period notice in the Federal Register for the regular information collection.

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