Emergency Memo

MEMORANDUM
DATE:

January 4, 2022

TO:

Shagufta Ahmed
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

FROM:

Ian Rosenblum
(Acting) Assistant Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)

THROUGH:

Andrew Brake, OESE
Kate Mullan, Kathy Axt and Joanne Bogart, Strategic Collections and Clearance Team, Office of
the Chief Data Officer

SUBJECT:

Education Stabilization Fund- Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund
(ESSER I/ESSER II/ARP ESSER Fund) Recipient Data Collection Form: Request for Emergency
Information Collection (OMB # 1810-0749)

This memo requests OMB’s approval for emergency processing to update to the ESSER data collection form to
allow the Department to collect information on activities supported with SEA Reserve funds at the state level,
through an Emergency Information Collection Request. The attached form and Supporting Statement reflect
updates to the collection approved on December 30, 2021. A notice for the collection will be submitted to the
Federal Register for a 15-day public comment period, and we are requesting approval no later than January
26, 2022.
Background
Under the current unprecedented national health emergency, the legislative and executive branches of
government have come together to offer relief to those individuals and industries affected by the COVID-19
virus under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (P.L. 116-136) authorized on March
27, 2020 and expanded through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA)
Act, and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. The ESSER Fund awards grants to SEAs and for the purpose of
providing local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that are LEAs, as well as Outlying Areas,
with emergency relief funds to address the impact that Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had,
and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the Nation.
The U.S. Department of Education (Department) will collect information through the Education Stabilization
Fund- Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER I/ESSER II/ARP ESSER Fund) Recipient
Data Collection Form to ensure that ESSER funds are used in accordance with applicable requirements under
the CARES Act, CRRSA Act, and ARP Act and will be shared with the public to promote transparency regarding
the allocation and uses of funds. Furthermore, the information collected will be analyzed to provide aggregate
statistics on SEA and LEA use of ESF funds to address the impacts of the COVID-19 virus on students and
schools. Data collection will be conducted through a Department-provided web portal. Electronic data
collection through a web portal was chosen because of its efficiency, cost, and ability to pre-populate certain
fields and conduct verification checks on others in an automated manner.

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The ESSER annual data collection was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in January 2020
(OMB# 1810-0749), with subsequent revisions approved on December 30, 2021. The need for emergency
processing is necessary to provide states with sufficient time to collect the required data regarding the use of SEA
reserve funds. Retrospectively creating this data after the activities have concluded is much more burdensome
than prospectively collecting the data as the activities occur.
Rationale and Additional Items
The form currently collects information regarding the use of SEA reserve funds at the LEA level. However,
questions addressing SEA use of Reserve Funds were not included in the forms submitted for 60- and 30-day
public comment.
The changes made to the ESSER data collection form are described in the following table and are included in
attached questions and data form. The changes will result in an annual burden estimate of 663 hours (52
responses x 12.75 burden hours).
Additional Items
Question 2.2b (SEA Expenditures of SEA Reserve): Burden estimate: 30 minutes. This is a Y/N question asked
of prime grantees, on whether they expended SEA Reserve funds or not. This should be known to all prime
grantees.
Question 2.2c: SEA Interventions to address learning loss: Burden estimate: 15 minutes. This is a Y/N
question asked of prime grantees on whether they directly administered any activities or interventions to
address learning loss. Again, this should be known to grantees.
Question 2.2d: SEA Interventions and participation: Burden estimate: 12 hours. This estimate is an average
across all remaining reporting years and reflects efforts to collect new data and report the data. These data
are not required in Years 1 and 2 of annual performance reporting; however, grantees will need to stand up
the capacity to collect this data during that time.
We appreciate your consideration of this request. Please contact us with any questions.

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