A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Letter in response to Mississippi Superintendent Bounds' request for flexibility as the state recovers from Hurricane Katrina

July 10, 2007

Honorable Hank Bounds
Superintendent of Education
State Department of Education
Central High School Building
359 North West Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39205

Dear Hank:

This is in response to your letter of June 5, in which you make specific requests for flexibility in your continued effort to recover from Hurricane Katrina. We commend you on that effort and are pleased to know about the progress and accomplishments made during this process. We are deeply committed to providing all the support and flexibility allowable under my authority in order to help you provide the children of Mississippi with a quality education, and thank you for recognizing this intent.

Your letter raises three issues. First, you requested a waiver of section 1127(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), which limits the Mississippi Department of Education's (MSDE's) ability to grant a district a waiver of the 15 percent carryover limitation in Part A of Title I to once every three years. Under the waiver authority in section 9401 of the ESEA, we are granting your request, so that your agency may grant a district a waiver of the 15 percent Title I, Part A carryover limitation more than once every three years. This waiver applies to fiscal year (FY) 2004 and 2005 Title I, Part A funds.

You also requested clarification about our September 12, 2005, waiver granting "an immediate 12-month extension of the time within which Mississippi has to obligate funds that have been awarded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) and for which the obligation deadline is September 30, 2005." This waiver applied to State-administered ESEA funds that first became available on July 1, 2003 (i.e., Federal FY 2003 funds) and for which the period of availability for obligations otherwise would have expired on September 30, 2005, and to any other ESEA funds awarded to Mississippi whose period of availability otherwise would have ended on September 30, 2005. The waiver extended the available period of obligation for these funds through September 30, 2006. In addition, because a grantee has 90 days within which to liquidate funds after the period of fund availability expires, the waiver effectively extended the liquidation deadline until the end of December 2006.

Please note that at this time we have not granted obligation extensions for years beyond FY 2003 because you had not indicated since your September 2005 letter that extensions for subsequent years were needed. If you would like to pursue obligation and liquidation extensions for ESEA programs for those years, please identify in writing the specific years for which you may need the waivers.

Finally, you requested flexibility regarding maintenance of effort requirements. As you know, the Hurricane Education Recovery Act (HERA) was enacted after your initial September 2005 request for a waiver of maintenance of effort requirements pursuant to section 9521(c)(1) of the ESEA. Section 105 of HERA gives me broad authority to waive maintenance of effort and certain other requirements, in order to ease fiscal burdens as a result of Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. I am using that authority to grant MSDE and local educational agencies throughout the State waivers of maintenance of effort requirements relative to FY 2006 and FY 2007 funds. This waiver applies to all maintenance of effort provisions except those under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Please be assured that I will continue working with you as the MSDE addresses the many difficult issues resulting from the hurricanes. Do not hesitate to contact me for further assistance.