Overview
Effective February 10, 2022, Nevada is operating under
Emergency Directive 052, supported by Emergency Directive 052 Guidance. Emergency Directive 052 takes precedence over
previous 2021-2022 school year guidance and goes into effect for all Nevada
school districts on February 11, 2022. School districts are required to
submit plans for outbreak mitigation to their local Nevada health authority no
later than February 27, 2022.
The
American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act awarded over $1 billion in Elementary and
Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding for education to Nevada.
Information on funding allocations to local education agencies (LEAs, referring
to the 17 county school district and the State Public Charter School Authority)
can be found on the K-12 Federal Relief Funding webpage.
The
U.S.
Department of Education issued guidance regarding the requirements of state
education agencies and LEAs stemming from the ARP Act. LEAs receiving allocations
through ARP (in Nevada, all except Eureka County School District), were
required to develop and post to their websites two plans: Plan for a Safe
Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services and ARP ESSER Use of
Funds Plans. Descriptions of the plan requirements as well as links to LEAs’
plans are included below.
Plans
for Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services
Section
2001(i)(1) of the ARP Act requires each LEA that receives ARP ESSER funds to
develop and make publicly available on the LEA's website, not later than 30
days after receiving ARP ESSER funds (in Nevada, no later than July 14, 2021),
a plan for the safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services
for all schools, including those that have already returned to in-person
instruction.
- Section
2001(i)(2) of the ARP Act further requires that the LEA seek public comment on
the plan and take those comments into account in the development of the plan.
- Section
2001(i)(3) of the ARP Act states that an LEA that developed a plan for the safe
return to in-person instruction and continuity of services prior to the date of
enactment of the ARP Act will be deemed to have met the requirement to develop
a plan under section 2001(i)(1) as long as the plan meets the statutory
requirements (i.e., is publicly available on the LEA's website and
was developed after the LEA sought and took into account public comment).
On April 19, 2021, Governor
Sisolak issued Declaration of Emergency Directive 044 requiring the Superintendent of Public Instruction to
update the requirements and provide written guidance to LEAs regarding
reopening plans and plans for Path Forward Programs of Distance Education for
the 2021-22 school year. In accordance with Nevada Department of Education Guidance Memo #21-02, LEA approaches to Path Forward Programs of Distance Education were
required to be incorporated into the federally required LEA Plans for Safe
Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services.
Plans for ARP ESSER Use
of Funds
The federally established minimum requirements for the ARP ESSER Use
of Funds plans ensure that LEAs are using ARP ESSER funds for their intended
purposes, including:
- Whether and how they
will use the funds specifically for COVID-19 prevention and mitigation
strategies,
- How the funds will be
used to address the academic impact of interrupted learning through the
implementation of evidence-based interventions, consistent with the requirement
in section 2001(e)(1) of the ARP Act that each LEA reserve at least 20 percent
of its ARP ESSER funds for that purpose, and
- How the LEA will
ensure that those interventions respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental
health needs of all students and particularly those students disproportionately
impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The LEA must submit its ARP ESSER plan no later than 90 days after
receiving its ARP ESSER allocation (in Nevada, no later than September 10,
2021).
In
addition, Use of Funds plans must be:
- In
an understandable and uniform format;
- To
the extent practicable, written in a language that parents can understand or,
if it is not practicable to provide written translations to a parent with
limited English proficiency, be orally translated for such parent;
- Upon
request by a parent who is an individual with a disability as defined by the
Americans with Disabilities Act, provided in an alternative format accessible
to that parent; and
- Be
made publicly available on the LEA's website.
Nevada Local Education Agency Plans