SED Logo
THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234
_______________________________________________________________________________________
James A. Kadamus, Deputy Commissioner
Office for Elementary, Middle, Secondary and Continuing Education
Room 875 EBA (518) 474-5915
November 2002
To: District Superintendents of Schools
Superintendents of Public Schools
From: James A. KadamusJim Kadamus Signature
Subject: NYS Education Department Request to Renew its Waiver to Consolidate Administrative Funds Under the Federal ESEA Program
Section 9201(a) of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) authorizes State Educational Agencies (SEAs) to consolidate funds made available for state administration under the following programs if the SEA can demonstrate that the majority of its resources come from non-Federal sources.
  • Title I, Parts A (Basic), B (Subpart 3, Even Start), C (Migrant), D (Neglected, Delinquent, or At-Risk)
  • Title I, Part B, Subpart 1, Reading First
  • Title II, Part A, Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund
  • Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology
  • Title III, Part A, English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement Act
  • Title IV, Part A, Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities
  • Title IV, Part B, 21st Century Community Learning Centers
  • Title V, Part A, Innovative Programs
  • Title VI, Part B, Subpart 2, Rural and Low Income School Program

This authorization is intended to permit SEAs to coordinate and integrate more effectively their management of these individual federal programs, as well as related State initiatives.

The majority of the resources that support the NYS Education Department (NYSED) do not come from non-federal resources. As a result, a waiver from the US Department of Education (USDOE) is required for us to take advantage of this flexibility, which is available to most SEAs without any further action.

We received waivers in January 1998 and January 2001 permitting us to consolidate funds made available for State administration under the various ESEA programs. These waivers improved significantly our ability to achieve the Regents strategic goal that "All students will meet high standards for academic performance and personal behavior and demonstrate the knowledge and skills required by a dynamic world."

We are now requesting a third waiver to permit us to continue to consolidate funds made available for state administration under the ESEA programs listed above for FFY 2002-03 through FFY 2005-06. We invite your comments on this request for waiver and will share all comments received by December 15th with the USDOE.

A copy of the full text of our request for a waiver as submitted to the USDOE is available on our NCLB web site at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/nclb/nclb_home.htm. Comments, requests or other questions should be addressed to:

NYS Education Department
Administrative Support Group
Room 881 Education Building Annex
Albany, New York 12234
Fax: (518) 486-6038
E-mail: nclbnys@mail.nysed.gov