American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) – Maintenance of Equity (MOEquity) Requirement – FY 2023
The Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) received funds under the American Recue Plan Act (ARP) of 2021 to help safely reopen and sustain the same operation of schools, and to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the students. Section 2004 of the ARP Act includes provisions for the maintenance of equity requirement that are a condition for State educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to receive funds under ARP. These provisions are central to ensuring that essential resources are meeting the needs of students who have been subject to longstanding opportunity gaps in our education system.
One of these provisions require the SEAs to publish LEA exceptions and identify high-poverty schools and applicable LEA high-poverty school data for FY 2022 and FY 2023. SEAs are also required to describe how the SEA will ensure that each LEA that is not excepted from the LEA-level maintenance of equity requirements is maintaining equity in its high-poverty schools. In order to comply with this provision, the PRDE makes available the following information:
- The PRDE operates as a unitary system, therefore, acts as both SEA and LEA. The only LEA that PRDE has was not excepted from the local maintenance of equity requirements in FY 2023, and neither the PRDE schools were excepted from this requirement.
- The list of “high-poverty schools” in LEAs that are not excepted from the local maintenance of equity requirements in FY 2023 cand be found in the following link: PRDE – List of High-Poverty Schools 2022-2023 (FY 23)
- The PRDE will determine if its only LEA is not complying with the requirements during the month of December 2022, at the latest. If the LEA is not in compliance with the maintenance of equity requirements, the PRDE will perform the necessary adjustments during the SY 2022-2023 (FY 2023) to reach the equity between the high-poverty schools.