On June 26, Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to State Education Chiefs concerning late liquidation of stimulus funds. There is good news and some legal procedural news.
The Good News
The Secretary reset the reimbursement process back to pre-March 28 the date when the Secretary stopped all payments and required resubmittal to ensure alignment with new executive orders.
- The practical implication is that states will receive the payments they anticipated before March 28 or that were approved after March 28 using the new procedures outlined on March 28.
The Procedural News
States that sued the Secretary to enjoin the new process in March cannot benefit from specific liquidation procedures that were available after March 28.
In particular the guidance states that “project-specific liquidation extensions are not applicable in the following plaintiff States: Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.”
- Read the guidance here.
These states will still get their late liquidation but only for what was approved prior to March 28. They cannot benefit from any “project-specific” extensions.
Go deeper: The W/A team will keep you updated as this develops. In the meantime, please reach out to us if you have any questions.
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