New Jersey Department of Education

Guidance on the Allowable Uses of Funds under the Education Stabilization Fund Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund

The purpose of this document is to support local educational agencies (LEAs) in effectively utilizing ESSER Funds to meet the needs of New Jersey public school and nonpublic school students.  As authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), these funds may be used for any activity authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, the Carl D. Perkins Careers and Technical Education Act, and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.  In addition to those authorized activities, the Act provides for additional allowable uses.  The information below is intended to provide guidance on how an LEA may choose to spend the funds to meet the needs of its students, including students with disabilities, English language learners (ELLs), students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth It should be noted that the supplement not supplant requirement does not apply to ESSER funds. ESSER is its own, separate, flexible program intended to assist with the COVID-19 response. The allowable uses, taken directly from the Act, are listed below followed by specific examples. This guidance is not meant to be exhaustive.

Allowable Uses:

  • Coordination of preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies with State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health departments, and other relevant agencies, to improve coordinated responses among such entities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
  • Providing principals and other school leaders with the resources necessary to address the needs of their individual schools.
  • Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies.
  • Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency.

Allowable Uses:

  • Activities to address the unique needs of low-income children or students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth, including how outreach and services delivery will meet the needs of each population.
  • Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures, including for how to provide meals to eligible students, how to provide technology for online learning to all students,how to provide guidance for carrying out requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) and how to ensure other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.

Allowable Uses:

  • Training and professional development for staff of the local educational agency on sanitation and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases.
  • Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.

Allowable Uses:

  • Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity) for students who are served by the local educational agency that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors, including low-income students and students with disabilities, which may include assistive technology or adaptive equipment.

Allowable Uses:

  • Providing mental health services and supports.

Allowable Uses:

  • Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs oflow-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.


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