Overview
On July 1, 2021 the U.S. Department of Education released more than $3 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to states to support infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities through a separate supplement to Part B and Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Funds were allocated within Section 2014(a) of the ARP to supplement IDEA’s three major formula grants programs as follows:
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$2.6 billion for IDEA Part B Grants to States (Section 611) for children and youth with disabilities aged 3 through 21.
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Vermont received $6,625,874
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$200 million for IDEA Part B Preschool Grants (Section 619) for children with disabilities aged 3 through 5.
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Vermont received $472,522
ARP IDEA is subject to the same requirements as Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021 IDEA funding made available under Public Law 116-260 (The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021).
The AOE encourages LEAs to budget these funds for nonrecurring activities. ARP IDEA is a one-time funding opportunity that will not be available to sustain ongoing activities such as permanent employees. These funds must be tracked separately from IDEA in LEA accounting systems and a separate grant application will be made available in the Grants Management System (GMS).
Key Dates
- August 26, 2021- ARP IDEA application available in GMS
- December 10, 2021 – Deadline to apply for ARP IDEA funds
- April 1, 2023 – Deadline to submit amendments to ARP IDEA application
- September 30, 2023 – Deadline to obligate funds under ARP IDEA
- January 28, 2024 – Deadline to expend ARP IDEA funds
AOE Guidance
US Department of Education Guidance
Application
Creating and Editing the Application in the Grant Management System
All district administrators (superintendents) and business managers have permissions in the GMS to create and edit the application. If desired, a district administrator can delegate the ability to create and edit the application to additional staff, by assigning the role "leaIDEA" to any staff members with a GMS account. See the GMS login page's Training section for the four page instructions and the User Management for District Administrators training video to learn how to assign this role. Note that, as with all other grant applications, only the district administrator can agree to assurances and do the final submission to the Agency of Education.