ESSA Newsletter

Happy October, friends! 🍂 As the leaves change and pumpkins start popping up on every doorstep, we’re excited to share this month’s edition of our ESSA Newsletter with you. This issue is packed with treats — no tricks — to keep you informed and inspired as you serve your students and communities.

Inside, you’ll find helpful updates, timely reminders, and resources designed to make your ESSA implementation smoother than a caramel apple.

Thanks for all you do — your dedication helps turn every challenge into a sweet success. 🍬

- Tami Knight, Mercedez Rassi, and Monica Diaz

www.esc15.net/titlei

The 2025-2026 Title V, Part B Rural and Low-Income School Program Grant Application is now available in eGrants.

Applicant Designation and Certification (ADC) Form

The ADC form must be submitted before the grant application is available in eGrants. To access the ADC, log into TEAL and select eGrants as the application. Once in eGrants, click on Grants on the menu bar, then select Apply for Eligible Grants.

Application Due Date

Eligible applicants must apply through the eGrants system by 11:59 p.m. Central Time, November 14, 2025.

If you are one of our ESSA Support Contract districts, Mercedez or Tami will complete this grant on your behalf. Please keep an eye out for emails from us gathering details about this application.

The Federal Program Compliance Division will implement its process for conducting programmatic monitoring of the following federal programs authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

• Title I, Part A - Improving Basic Programs
• Title I, Part C - Education of Migratory Children
• Title I, Part D, Subpart 2 - Prevention and Intervention Programs for Children and Youth Who Are Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk
• Title II, Part A - Supporting Effective Instruction
• Title IV, Part A - Student Support and Academic Enrichment
• ESSA Private Nonprofit School Equitable Services (PNP)

Notifications to LEAs chosen for validation will be sent October 20. If your LEA is selected for validation, one of us will reach out to your LEA to ensure you have all the resources you need to complete the validation.

Region 15 will host a training for LEAs that are selected for validation on October 29, from 9 AM - 12 PM. We recommend that all LEAs selected for validation attend. More details will be sent once notifications for validations are sent by TEA.

Under ESSA, Section 1118(c), known as the comparability of services requirement, school systems may receive Title I, Part A funds only if state and local funds will be used in Title I, Part A campuses to provide services that are at least comparable to the services provided in non-Title I, Part A campuses. If the school system serves all its campuses with Title I, Part A funds, it must use state and local funds to provide services that, taken as a whole, are substantially comparable in each Title I, Part A campus.

All districts must complete the CAD Survey by November 14, 2025. Some districts must also complete the Comparability Computation Form (CCF), which is also due November 14 in GFFC Reports

Who must complete the CCF? A school system is exempt from completing/submitting the CCF if it meets any of the following criteria:

• The school system has only one campus per grade-span group.
• The school system has multiple campuses in the grade-span group, but no overlap of grade levels.
• The school system has an overlap of grade levels, but no Title I, Part A campuses in the grade-span group.
• The school system uses exclusion criteria to exclude one or more campuses, resulting in no basis for comparison.

Note: Grade-span groups should match the basic organization of schools in the school system. For example, a school system with elementary, middle and high school campuses would have three grade-span groups. If there is any overlap in grades, the campuses with the same grades should be tested in the same grade-span group. If there is no overlap in grades, the campuses may be separately tested.

School systems that do not meet any of the exemption criteria listed above are required to conduct comparability of services testing by completing the CCF. The school system must use its 2025–26 current school year budgeted data to complete the CCF. The CCF may be found on TEA's Comparability of Services page. The CCF must be turned into GFFC Reports by Friday, November 14, 2025.

Revised rules governing federal procurement of goods and services became effective October 1, 2025:

Two specific changes may impact and give greater flexibility to school systems if local policy and procedures are changed to reflect the following changes.

• The new micro-purchase threshold will be $15,000 (previously $10,000). The federal grant regulations (2 CFR §200.320) still allow for the school system to self-certify a higher threshold (see below).
• The new simplified acquisition threshold will be $350,000 (previously $250,000). This can increase the purchasing threshold when the school system is required to implement a formal procurement process of sealed bids or vendor proposals.

The local school system may choose whether to implement these higher procurement thresholds mid-grant year by the processes outlined below, or may choose to continue to follow the current federal grant procurement policy and procedures.

How to Implement Federal Changes:

For eligible school systems that do self-certify a higher micro-purchase threshold, the previous board-approved self-certified threshold that is codified in the local policy and procedures remains the most restrictive and must be followed until the following processes are completed.

• The local board must approve the reasoning for and the higher self-certified threshold and document the approval in local board minutes. Note that the school system does not notify TEA if you are following the statutory threshold of $15,000 (previously $10,000), as the statutory threshold is already approved for the school system.
• The school system must revise and update local policy and procedures to include the higher threshold, and
• The school system must notify TEA of the higher threshold through the Department of Grant Compliance and Administration’s EDGAR Connect system.

The self-certified threshold process will be as follows:

• Self-certified thresholds from $15,001 to $49,999 will continue to only require notification to TEA through the EDGAR Connect system.
• Self-certified thresholds of $50,000 to $99,999 will require the following documentation to be uploaded with the notification through the EDGAR Connect system.
  • Proof of eligibility,
    • low risk grantee as stated in the most recent federal audit (this is written by the external auditor and is not TEA’s annual risk assessment status), or
    • internal organizational risk assessment that identifies, mitigates, and manages financial risk (the assessment must address all three areas of identification, mitigation, and management of risk).
  • Local board minutes documenting the approved threshold policy, and
  • Local policy reflects the new threshold and the reason the higher threshold is needed.

Simplified Acquisition Threshold
For school systems that wish to implement the higher simplified acquisition threshold, the previous $250,000 threshold that is codified in the local procurement policy and procedures remains the most restrictive and must be followed until the following processes are completed.

• The school system must revise and update local policy and procedures to include the higher threshold, and
• The local board must approve the updated procurement policy, which reflects the higher threshold, and document the approval in local board minutes.

Once both actions are completed, the school system may begin implementing the higher threshold.

Note that all federal procurement policies and procedures must be followed for all federal grant procurements, whether implementing these new thresholds or not.

For any questions regarding the implementation of updated federal regulations or federal grant procurement requirements, please email Cory Green (cory.green@tea.texas.gov) and Nick Davis (nick.davis@tea.texas.gov) in the Department of Grant Compliance and Administration.

In order to help schools implement compliant programs, TEA has published frequently asked questions for various program areas.

A few of these have been updated in recent months!

ESSA:

• Title I-A FAQ (08/25)
• Title I-D FAQ (11/22)
• Title II-A FAQ (09/25)
• Title IV-A FAQ (09/25)
• ESSA Private Nonprofit Equitable Services (09/25)

This planner was developed in a partnership between TEA and the Title I Statewide Initiative. It provides a monthly guide for ESSA programs.

TEA will conduct an “Office Hour” session to support school systems who received Title I, Part A funds and are required to submit the Comparability Assurance Document (CAD) and the Comparability Computation Form (CCF). During the session, we will be available for school systems to ask questions.

Date/Time: October 14, 2 - 3PM

Registration: Meeting Registration - Zoom

Our 2025-2026 ESSA Workshops have also been tentatively scheduled. Please note that these dates are subject to change! We often receive notice of trainings we are required to attend after we create our PD schedule. We do our best to communicate changes promptly and we appreciate your understanding!

Title I schoolwide programs run best when principals know what’s expected — and feel equipped to handle it! In this session, federal program directors will receive a ready-to-use training toolkit designed to help principals understand the “why” and “how” behind schoolwide program requirements. From documentation do’s and don’ts to simple systems for staying organized, this session offers practical tools and resources you can use right away to make compliance a little less complicated — and a lot more doable.

Click here to register for access to this on-demand course!

Parent Day will be on October 17, 2025, at the Waco Convention Center—an exciting event created just for parents and caregivers! Parents will walk away with practical tips, valuable resources, and fresh inspiration to help them thrive at home and in school life.

Is there anything we can do to help you with your ESSA programs? Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you. Our contact information is below.

Email: federalprograms@esc15.net
Website: www.esc15.net/titlei
Location: 612 South Irene Street, San Angelo, TX, USA
Phone: 325-658-6571
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Region15ESC
Twitter: @Region15ESC