You did it! First things first, a heartfelt congratulations and thanks to all board members, administrators, and staff members for navigating what we hope to be the most unique school year any of us will ever experience. It has sincerely been our pleasure to work in partnership with you, and we remain in awe of what you accomplish with more obligations and relatively less funding each passing year.
As you look forward to taking some well-earned downtime, we have a few things we want to put on your radar as you make plans.
Policy Updates and Update Webinar. The weather has finally warmed up, Phil just won a major at 50, and we’re all inspired to play more golf work on policies? Yeah, you know they’re coming every year around this time: policy updates will be out next week! We don’t anticipate too heavy of a load, but there will be some key updates related to things like federal purchasing, construction, and others.
We plan to send out policy updates to subscribers on June 8. KSB will also be hosting and recording our policy update webinar at 10:00 AM Central on June 10th. If you are a policy service subscriber, you’ll get all of the updates and a link for the webinar next week. If you’re interested in receiving KSB’s policy updates, give one of us a call.
Supreme Court and B.L. v. Mahanoy. On April 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could change the legal landscape for schools. The key question in the case is the extent to which schools can regulate off-campus speech students make online (in this case, a series of profanity-laced Snapchat rants related to a cheer team). The Court could more narrowly decide the case and avoid sweeping changes to the rules we all know from the Tinker case (the “material and substantial disruption standard”), or it could fundamentally redefine this area of the law. Decisions for the current term are typically issued by the end of June, and we expect the B.L. decision to run right up to the deadline. If the Court goes big with the decision, it could require multiple additional policy and handbook updates immediately. We know how much you all LOVE multiple rounds of policy updates, so keep an eye on this case!
Biden Admin. Rule/Regulation/Guidance Review. In addition to the Supreme Court, we’re also waiting on some impending summer updates from the Biden Administration Office for Civil Rights. On March 8, President Biden signed an executive order requiring the agency to review existing regulations and guidance, including under Title IX, within 100 days. Last week, OCR announced it will hold public hearings from June 7 to June 11: “During the hearing, OCR seeks input...on what additional changes to the Title IX regulations and any related agency actions may be necessary to fulfill President Biden's Executive Orders.” In addition to another set of updates to the formal grievance process regulations implemented last August, we anticipate they’ll ask for input on other hot-button issues like gender identity, sexual orientation, and transgender individuals participating in sports and activities.
Just what you wanted to hear...more Title IX regulatory changes and guidance likely to come soon!
ARP ESSER Funds and Plans. A few weeks back, the U.S. Dept. of Education released some proposed rules governing the use of the newest round of federal stimulus funds dedicated to schools and state departments of education in the American Recovery Plan Act (commonly referred to as “ESSER III funds”). Karen and Bobby presented on the allowable ESSER III expenditures and the requirements of the USDOE’s proposed rules at NASBO (slides here).
In summary, before state departments of education and schools can access and commit remaining ESSER III funds, they must solicit stakeholder input and form two written plans: a “Safe Return to In-Person Instruction Plan” and “ARP ESSER Plan.” The USDOE put out a “template” for what state education departments will need to submit for their plan, which you can view here. We anticipate USDOE and state departments will have guidance and/or templates for local schools to use when creating their plans. Both plans must be published on the entity’s website, and we’ll be providing clients with additional guidance on soliciting stakeholder input and drafting your plans as details and expectations become clearer. The USDOE also recently published an FAQ guidance document on ESSER programs.
Here’s the bottom line: before you start spending ESSER III money, make sure you understand the limitations and requirements--if you’re not sure, call your attorney. In addition to the lessons learned from ESSER II (like Davis-Bacon and the federal procurement rules impacting your plans), there will likely be some new, additional requirements to comply with this summer/fall before committing ESSER III funds.
New Administrator Training. Many of you have already responded to our survey seeking input about how KSB can support the large cadre of new administrators set to step in for the 2021-22 school year. For those of you who (wisely) took some time away at the end of May, would you please respond to our short survey about how we can help first-time superintendents and principals next year?
Whew! That’s it for now. If you have questions about any of these issues; are thinking about summer/fall presentations and trainings (we’re stoked schools are scheduling us for digital citizenship again!); or any others, please reach out to one of us!