Skip To Main Content

Select a School

Madison Metropolitan School District

Select a School

Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Grant Program

The ESSER Grant Program, part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, provides funds to help LEAs respond to changes in student needs due to COVID-19 (CARES Act, Section 18003).

ESSER Funds (CARES Act) Guidance on Private Allowable Costs

This document will assist Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in planning and preparing, in consultation with their private schools, for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) private sub-budget applications. Any services/assistance provided to private schools shall be administered by the LEA. This means that any materials, equipment, and supplies remain the property of the LEA and services/assistance for equitable participation must be provided by the LEA or the LEA may contract for the provision of such services with a public or private entity (CARES Act, Section 18005(b)). LEAs should check this document frequently as it will be continually updated as more guidance is available.

In order to identify allowable costs under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSERF, CARES Act, Section 18003), the Department of Public Instruction has structured the ESSERF application in WISEgrants around the main tenets of the grant program and in accordance with the Uniform Grant Guidance (2 CFR 200). Costs associated with ESSERF have been identified by “Program Types,” a field used in the WISEgrants budgets to assist in organizing related uniform financial accounting requirement expenditure combinations (WUFAR).

The following pages are organized by Program Type and then possible activities that have been considered to date as a response to providing education and services to private school students and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Associated with those possible activities are examples of costs and how / where they can be located within the WISEgrants budget application (by sub-budget and budget section). This document does not cover all of the WUFAR combinations available in the budget software.

When working in the ESSERF sub-budgets, users can locate expenditure combinations by utilizing the “Search for Budget Combinations” search engine tool located at the top of each budget section. If the cost cannot be found using the search engine, request an ESSERF budget combination through this form.

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction - ESSERF Private Schools Allowable Costs - Created 7/27/2020; Updated 7/28/2020 (bg)

Additional information regarding the purchasing and maintenance of supplies, materials and equipment for private schools is available in Wisconsin’s ESSSER FAQ.