The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund is administered by the United States Department of Education. ESSER funds were distributed "to address diverse needs arising from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to emerge stronger post-pandemic, including responding to students' social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs and continuing to provide educational services as States and school administrative units (SAUs) respond to and recover from the pandemic." (Frequently Asked Questions, updated December 2022). Additional information about the three federal emergency relief acts can be found at https://oese.ed.gov/offices/education-stabilization-fund/elementary-secondary-school-emergency-relief-fund.
Any use of ESSER funds must be “to prevent, prepare for, and respond to” the COVID-19 pandemic while being necessary and reasonable for the performance of the ESSER award. This means that transferring funds to a rainy-day fund, bridging a budget shortfall that is not related to the pandemic, and providing matching funds for other federal programs are not allowable.
Allocations
Information
| Last Updated (year-month-day) |
Category | File Name / Topic | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-10-21 | Webinar Liquidation Extension | Federal Emergency Relief Programs October 21, 2024 Updated Webinar - ARP ESSER Extension to Liquidation | |
| 2024-10-3 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief Programs October 2024 Office Hour - ARP ESSER Deadlines and Invoicing | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2024-9-5 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief September 2024 Office Hour - ARP ESSER Deadlines and Invoicing | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2024-6-26 | Office Hour for Late Liquidation (repeat) | Federal Emergency Relief Office Hour on Late Liquidation of ESSER | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2024-6-6 | Office Hours | Federal Emergency Relief Programs June 2024 Office Hour | |
| 2024-5-3 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief Programs May 2024 Office Hour | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2024-03-07 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief Programs March 2024 Office Hour | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2024-2-1 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief Programs February 2024 Office Hour | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2024-1-4 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief Programs January 2024 Office Hours | |
| 2023-12-7 | Office Hour | Federal Emergency Relief Programs December 2023 Office Hours | |
| 2023-10-5 | Office Hours | Federal Emergency Relief Programs October 2023 Office Hours | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2023-9-6 | Office Hours | Federal Emergency Relief ProgramsSeptember 2023 Office Hours | YouTube Video | PDF |
| 2023-6-1 | Office Hours | Federal Emergency Relief ProgramsJune 2023 Office Hours | |
| 2022-12-13 | General Info | CARES ESSER I blank application | |
| 2022-12-13 | General Info | CRRSA ESSER II blank application | |
| 2020-05-29 | General Info | ESSERF Coding Handbook | |
| 2021-01-07 | General Info | ESSER I & II FAQs | |
| 2022-12-07 | General Info | ESSER & GEER FAQs for Allowable Uses (Updated) | |
| 2021-05-01 | General Info | ESSER & GEER FAQs for Allowable Uses | |
| 2020-05-01 | General Info | CARES Act ESSERF Finance Training | Video |
| 2020-03-27 | General Info | H.R. 748 – CARES Act | Webpage |
| General Info | COVID-19 ("Coronavirus") Information and Resources for Schools and School Personnel | Webpage | |
| 2020-05-14 | General Info | EPS Model Expenditures | |
| 2020-05-15 | General Info | EPS Model Expenditure Allocations Presentation | |
| 2020-10-20 | General Info | ESSERF and Equitable Share Allocations | Excel |
| 2021-01-15 | General Info | CRRSA Act Finance Presentation | PowerPoint |
| 2021-03-26 | General Info | ARP ESSER Presentation | PowerPoint |
| 2021-06-14 | General Info | Learning Management System Subgrant Allocations | |
| 2021-06-07 | General Info | Priority Notice regarding LMS Grant | Webpage |
| General Info | LEA Plan: Appendix A of ARPA and Appendix B of the Interim Final Rule | Webpage | |
| 2021-05-26 | General Info | United States Department of Education - Use of Funds FAQ | |
| 2021-07-14 | General Info |
Interim Federal Rule for American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund |
Webpage |
| 2021-08-02 | General Info |
Resources to Help Schools Improve Ventilations Systems to Prevent COVID-19 from US Department of Education |
Webpage |
| 2021-08-02 | General Info | ARP Homeless Children and Youth (ARP HCY) preliminary allocations | |
| 2021-08-02 | General Info | Blank GEM ARP ESSER application | |
| 2021-08-19 | General Info | Office Hour, August 17, 2021 ARP HCY II Zoom recording | Video |
| 2021-08-20 | General Info | Time and Effort Documentation: Personal Activity Report | Word |
| 2021-08-20 | General Info | Time and Effort Documentation: Semi-annual Certification | Word |
| 2021-08-20 | General Info | Time and Effort Documentation: Modified Stipend Time and Effort | Word |
| 2021-10-13 | General Info | School Construction Checklist (using ESSER) | |
| 2021-11-08 | General Info | Expanding or Creating a Pre-K Program Using Federal Emergency Relief Funds Information Sheet | |
| 2021-11-08 | General Info | Expanding or Creating a Pre-K Program Using Federal Emergency Relief Funds Slide Presentation | |
| 2021-11-12 | General Info | Business Manager Guide | |
| 2021-12-07 | General Info | ARP Homeless Children and Youth II FAQ | |
| 2021-12-17 | General Info | ESSER Performance Report (2020-2021) Blank Copy | PDF | Word |
| 2022-03-03 | General Info | Invoicing Instructions CARES ESSER 1 & CRRSA ESSER 2 | |
| 2022-03-03 | General Info | Invoicing Instructions APR ESSER 3 | |
| 2022-01-13 | General Info | Performance Report FAQs | |
| 2022-01-27 | General Info | PPE Allocations | |
| 2022-02-11 | General Info | Maine ASBO Presentation February 11, 2022, on Performance Reports due March 25, 2022 | |
| 2022-07-12 | General Info | Close-out Terms for ESSER Grants | |
| 2022-08-09 | General Info | General Disposition Guidance for Equitable Services under the CARES Act | |
| 2022-08-16 | General Info | Updating GEM Login and Password | |
| 2022-09-28 | General Info | Students Experiencing Homelessness and/or Multilingual Learners (MLs) Allocations by SAU | |
| 2022-12-20 | General Info | Computer Science Mobile Learning application sample | |
| 2022-03-08 | General Info | ESSER FY'22 Performance Report - Blank Copy | PDF | Word |
| 2023-03-17 | General Info | ESSER Performance Report FY'22 Office Hour | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2021-07-01 | Office Hours | ARP Purpose, Requirements, and Application Process | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2021-07-15 | Office Hours | ARP ESSER Application Training | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2021-07-29 | Office Hours | ARP ESSER Application Training - 2 | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2021-08-12 | Office Hours | ARP ESSER Application Training -3 | Video | PowerPoint |
| 2021-08-17 | Office Hours | ARP HCY II | Video |
| 2021-08-26 | Office Hours | ARP application update and guidance - 4 | Video | PDF |
| 2021-09-23 | Office Hours | ARP application updates and guidance - 5 | Video | PDF |
| 2021-10-07 | Office Hours | ARP Application Updates and Guidance - 6 | Video | PDF |
| 2021-11-04 | Office Hours | ARP Application Updates and Guidance - 7 | Video | PDF |
| 2021-12-02 | Office Hours | Maintenance of Equity (MOEq) | Video | PDF | Excel |
| 2021-12-02 | Office Hours | MOEq Tool walkthrough | Video | PDF |
| 2022-01-06 | Office Hours | Completing the ESSER Performance Report - 9 | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2022-02-03 | Office Hours | ESSER Performance Report | Video | PDF |
| 2022-03-03 | Office Hours | ESSER Performance Report | Video | PDF |
| 2022-04-07 | Office Hours | Common Reasons PRs are Reopened | Video | PDF |
| 2022-05-05 | Office Hours | Information for Business Managers | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2022-06-16 | Office Hours | Late Liquidation | Video | PDF |
| 2022-09-13 | Office Hours | New Applicant Coordinators and Other School Leaders | Video | PDF |
| 2022-09-08 | Webinar | Maintenance of Equity Webinar | |
| 2022-10-06 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates | Video | PDF |
| 2022-11-03 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates/MoEquity | Video | PDF |
| 2022-12-01 | Office Hours | Updates/New Invoicing Practices for Subscriptions | |
| 2023-01-05 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates | Video | PDF |
| 2023-02-02 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates: Disposition, New Procedures 10% overage, Preview of Performance Report | Video | PDF |
| 2023-03-02 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates: Preview of Performance Reports | Video | PDF | PDF |
| 2023-04-06 | Office Hours | ESSER Updates: FY22 Performance Reports, Invoice Review timeline, Davis-Bacon Act reminder | Video | PDF |
| 2020-04-17 | Waiver | Perkins | |
| 2020-03-27 | Waiver | Assessment, Accountability & Reporting | |
| 2020-04-21 | Waiver | ESEA | |
| 2020-04-29 | Policy Guidance | Adult Education Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) | Word |
| 2020-04-29 | Policy Guidance | ESEA | Word |
| 2020-05-18 | Policy Guidance | IDEA Guidance | |
| 2020-04-29 | Policy Guidance | Perkins | Word |
| General Info | SAU Spending and Instruction Plans | Webpage | |
| 2023-06-14 | General Info | MELH Invoicing | Excel |
Contact
Shelly Chasse-Johndro
Director, Federal Emergency Relief Programs
Email: Shelly.ChasseJohndro@maine.gov
Karen Kusiak
CARES, CRRSA, ARP, & CRF Coordinator
Email: Karen.Kusiak@maine.gov