Per the process described in Commissioner's Memo LS-20-009, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has released the December disbursement of State Categorical ELL funds in the amount of $359 per identified English Learner. The attached document (on the "Dec 2021 ELL Funds to Disburse" tab) will indicate which districts received the disbursement (issued December 16, 2021). The attached document (on the "Dec 2021 ELL Count Source" tab) indicates whether the ELL enrollment count came from Cycle 2 or from a verified count (DESE Confirmation Pull) after the district submitted a corrected Language Minority Student (LMS) Error Report and adjusted ESL/LMS roster. Final ELL count/numbers will be reflected on upcoming State Aid Notices.

Districts whose December EL Count/Payment Count Source were marked as TBD on the attached document (on the "Dec 2021 ELL Count Source" tab) will receive the ELL Categorical fund disbursement February 2022 pending receipt of a corrected Language Minority Student Error Report (LMS Error Report) and adjusted ESL/LMS Roster for October 1, 2021.  For funding to be disbursed February 2022, the corrections and adjustments are to be completed by no later than February 1, 2022. 

When the LMS Error Report for October 1, 2021 is clear, the ESOL Coordinator must notify Erika Regier (Erika.Regier@ade.arkansas.gov). Ongoing technical assistance from the ESOL/English Learners office will continue to be provided to support districts in meeting this expectation.

Districts are responsible for ensuring ELL funds are spent on eligible activities as described in the Special Needs Funding Rules. See the Special Needs Funding Rules, Section 5 for further details. The revenue code is 32371 and the source of fund code is 2276 for State Categorical ELL Funds.

Please consult the 2021-22 Language Minority Student/English Learner Data Entry presentation and the COGNOS Reports Information document for further details regarding data entry into eSchool and COGNOS reports pertaining to Language Minority Students. Additional materials regarding the Arkansas English Learner Entrance and Exit Procedures are available on DESE's English Learner webpage.

If you have further questions about this process or ESOL services, please contact DESE’s ESOL Program Director, Tricia Kerr, at Tricia.Kerr@ade.arkansas.gov or at 479-267-7450.

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