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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 131 / Tuesday, July 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations States significant poverty percentage and be most impacted by the COVID19
emergency, as required by the ARP Act.
Transparency Statute: Section 312d2Bi of the CRRSA Act requires an SEA to distribute information about the EANS program to non-public schools and make the information . . . easily available. Under 20 U.S.C. 1221e-3, the Secretary has the authority to promulgate rules governing the programs administered by the Department.
Final Requirements: Following approval of the Governors ARP EANS
application by the Secretary, an SEA
must publish on its website, on or before the date it makes applications for services or assistance available to nonpublic schools, the States approved 1
minimum percentage to determine whether a non-public school enrolls a significant percentage of students from low-income families; 2 sources of poverty data to be used in determining counts of students from low-income families in a non-public school; and 3
factors to determine whether a nonpublic school is most impacted by the COVID19 emergency.
Reasons: We believe transparency regarding the significant poverty percentage, sources of poverty data, and factors for determining schools most impacted by the COVID19 emergency that a State uses are important given the potential variations among States.
Transparency would ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the specific criteria each State plans to apply in determining which non-public schools receive services or assistance under the ARP EANS program.
Determining Low-Income Counts
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Low-Income Threshold Statute: Under section 2002a of the ARP Act, services or assistance to nonpublic schools under the ARP EANS
program are limited to non-public schools that enroll a significant percentage of students from lowincome families and are most impacted by the COVID19 emergency. Neither the ARP Act nor the CRRSA Act defines students from low-income families or low-income students.
Final Requirements: To be counted as a student from a low-income family for purposes of these requirements, a student must be aged 5 through 17 from a family whose income does not exceed 185 percent of the 2020 Federal poverty level.
Reasons: The Department defined the count of children as those aged 5

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through 17 because that is the age range section 312d1B of division M of the CRRSA Act requires the Department to use to allocate EANS funds to States.
Additionally, that age range is used in other contexts involving Federal education funds, including allocating funds to local educational agencies and determining the proportional share for equitable services under title I of the ESEA. See, for example, sections 1117c1 and 1124c1 of the ESEA.
The Department chose to set a limit on the poverty threshold for the family of a student to be counted as low-income at 185 percent of the 2020 Federal poverty level for several reasons.
Section 312d1B of division M of the CRRSA Act requires the Department to allocate EANS funds to each State based on the proportion of children aged 5
through 17 at or below 185 percent of poverty who are enrolled in non-public schools in the State. The threshold to qualify for free and reduced-price meals under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq. is 185 percent of the Federal poverty level, and eligibility for free and reduced-price meals also is the poverty measure most often used for determining within-district allocations and for identifying the economically disadvantaged subgroup for accountability and reporting purposes under title I of the ESEA. One hundred eighty-five percent of the Federal poverty level is also the threshold to qualify for the E-rate program administered by the Federal Communications Commission 47 CFR
54.500, 54.505b. Finally, several commenters recommended 185 percent of the Federal poverty level as the threshold for family income. For these reasons, the Department believes it is the appropriate standard of low-income status for use in determining what constitutes a significant percentage of students from low-income families in non-public schools in order to provide services or assistance under the ARP
EANS program.

enrolled in a non-public school, an SEA
may use one or more of the following sources of data, provided the poverty threshold is consistent across sources and does not exceed 185 percent of the 2020 Federal poverty level: 1 Free or reduced-price lunch data; 2 data from the E-rate program; 3 data from a different source, such as scholarship or financial assistance data; or 4 data from a survey developed by the SEA.
Reasons: Free and reduced-price lunch data is the source of poverty data most aligned to 185 percent of the 2020
Federal poverty level. The Department recognizes, however, that many nonpublic schools do not participate in the Federal meals program. E-rate data are similarly aligned but also may not be available for many non-public schools.
Accordingly, the Department includes other sources of data for an SEA to choose that should be more readily available to non-public schools. An SEA
may also send a survey to non-public school families to collect poverty data for use in meeting the SEAs threshold for significant percentage of students from low-income families, provided the SEA has sufficient time to distribute, collect, and compile data from the surveys.
The final requirements afford an SEA
some latitude to select one or more sources of poverty data, provided the poverty threshold is consistent among sources and does not exceed 185
percent of the Federal poverty level.
Such latitude was particularly requested by commenters representing the nonpublic school community, given that not every school has the same poverty data on its families. The Department encourages an SEA to consult with nonpublic school officials regarding available sources of poverty data.
Additionally, given that not all nonpublic schools have access to the same poverty data, the Department encourages an SEA to permit multiple sources of data, among schools or within a school, provided those data use a consistent poverty threshold.

Sources of Data on Family Income Statute: Under section 2002a of the ARP Act, services or assistance to nonpublic schools under the ARP EANS
program are limited to non-public schools that enroll a significant percentage of students from lowincome families and are most impacted by the COVID19 emergency. Neither the ARP Act nor the CRRSA Act defines the term students from low-income families or low-income students.
Final Requirements: Under the final requirements, to obtain a count of students from low-income families
Final Requirements The Secretary establishes the following final requirements for the ARP EANS program:
a In general. A State educational agency SEA must provide services or assistance under the Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools EANS program, as authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ARP
Act, in accordance with the requirements applicable to the EANS
program under section 312d of division M of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental
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