Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Grant

What is an ELO grant

An expanded learning opportunity, or ELO, is defined as an academic or learning program that takes place outside typical school hours. In other words, these programs are mostly likely conducted after school or during the summer months. Local education agencies (LEAs) such as school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education often use community organizations and resources to facilitate ELOs, which could include programs such as after-school clubs, tutoring sessions, and summer camps.

The ELO grant offers funding to LEAs for these extracurricular programs as a means of helping ensure student populations most in need will benefit. ELO grants may be used toward seven supplemental and support strategies -

• Extending instructional learning time
• Accelerating progress to close learning gaps
• Integrated pupil support
• Community learning hubs
• Support for credit-deficient students
• Additional academic services
• School staff training

ELO grant funds are distributed as a one-time lump sum of $4.6 billion, and can be used anytime up through September 30, 2024. Use of funds is flexible for LEAs, but must be put toward additional instruction and support, including mental health services. ELO grants place priority on students with the greatest needs, and distribution of funds is based on the LEA’s prior-year enrollment. Even if your LEA receives funds for the 2021-2022 academic year, those funds may be applied to the 2022-2023 school year.

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Funding calculations

School districts, charter schools, CEOs, and state special schools are all eligible for ELO grant funds, which are calculated as follows -

• $1,000 per enrolled homeless pupil as reported in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS)
• $725 per unit of average daily attendance for state special schools
• 10% must be used to hire paraprofessional staff
• Remaining funds are based on LCFF entitlement and additional requirements

There are some additional requirements LEAs must meet to receive remaining funds, including submitting assurances and quarterly expenditure reports. If they meet these criteria, ELO grants will be allocated with a 25% advance followed by quarterly apportionments that equal based on those reports. The quarterly apportionments will equal 25% of the LEA’s allocation, including expenditures to date, and less any previously paid funds.

How to use ELO grant funds

The purpose of the ELO grant is to enable LEAs to better provide supplemental instruction and support to their students, especially those who need extra academic and social-emotional support. This can include tutoring, after-school programs, mental health support, and even meal and snacks. To use ELO grant funds, LEAs must apply them toward seven supplemental and support strategies. While not required to implement all seven strategies, LEAs should identify core strategies for their communities. To do so, LEAs are encouraged to work collaboratively with community partners to identify which expanded learning options are most needed for their students, including behavioral health.

• Strategy 1: extending instructional learning time

  This strategy requires extending instructional learning time beyond requirements for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. LEAs must increase the number of instructional days or minutes by offering summer school or intersessional programs, or implementing any action that increases instructional time or services in accordance with the learning needs of their student population.

  Title I, Part A Use of Authorized Funds recommends criteria for use of ELO grant funding by LEAs in the following ways:

  • The activity or expenditure must meet the state academic content standards
  • It must be rooted in an evidence-based educational strategy
  • It must present a reasonable, necessary, and allocable cost to the program
  • It must not supplant funds made available from state and local sources should ELO grant funding not be available
  • Funds must be used current to the federal or subsequent fiscal year

  Criteria for consideration for Title I Schoolwide Programs should include:

  • Activities or expenditures that meet identified needs based on the comprehensive needs assessment
  • Activities or expenditures should be included in the Single Plan to Student Achievement (SPSA)
  • SPSAs must be approved by the local governing board
  • SPSAs should be monitored annually for progress toward stated goals
  • Activities or expenditures should be reviewed, approved, and recommended by the SSC to the local governing board

  Criteria for activities and expenditures for Title I Targeted Assistance Schools (TAS) should include:

  • Ensuring the activity or expenditure serves identified student needs, including those students at the greatest risk of failing to meet state academic standards
  • The activity or expenditure is provided on an ongoing basis with progress reviewed by the TAS program if needed to help ensure state academic standards are met
  • Staff members paid with Title I funds may take on limited duties beyond classroom instruction or that do not benefit participating children as long as that time is proportional to the total work time of similar staff not being paid with Title I funds.
• Strategy 2: Accelerating progress to close learning gaps

  This strategy is focused on closing learning gaps faster through enhanced learning supports that include, but are not limited to:

  • One-one tutoring or small group learning with certificated or classified staff
  • Accelerating English language or academic proficiency through learning recovery programs
  • Training educators in accelerated learning strategies for all students, including addressing gaps in learning
• Strategy 3: Integrated pupil support

  This strategy encourages LEAs to address barriers to learning with an integrated approach. It could include other services related to physical and mental health, such as counseling and access to school meal programs, as well as family support services and before- and after-school programs that address social-emotional learning.

  • The CDE and California Department of Social Services offer guidance to LEAs on best interest determination
• Strategy 4: Community learning hubs

  This strategy pertains to using ELO grant funds for community learning hubs, where students can access technology-based academic supports such as high-speed internet.

  • In addition to the Title I, Part A Use of Authorized Funds outlined above, Title IV, Part A funds may be used to improve learning conditions, including incorporating technology to elevate digital literacy
  • Title V, Part B funds for rural education are also designed to help meet the needs of smaller rural school districts that lack the resources to compete for federal grants
• Strategy 5: Support for credit-deficient students

  This strategy encourages the use of ELO grant funds for students who are deficient in credits needed to graduate or increase their eligibility to attend college.

• Strategy 6: Additional academic services

  This strategy is focused on providing additional academic services for students, including diagnostic assessments, progress monitoring, and creating benchmarks for learning and achievement.

• Strategy 7: School staff training

  This strategy promotes ELO grant funds to further train school staff on students’ social-emotional and academic needs, including using trauma-informed practices.

ELO grant plan instructions

There are two components to creating an ELO grant plan: a plan description and an expenditure plan. The plan description has four main components:

• Describing how the plan was developed with input from parents, teachers, and school staff.

  Each LEA receiving an ELO grant should describe how they worked with parents, teachers, and community partners to identify supplemental instruction that aligns with the seven strategies outlined in the ELO grant.

• Describing how LEAs will inform parents and guardians of supplemental instruction and support opportunities.

  LEAs must have a plan in place describing how they will communicate about supplemental programs for students in need to their parents and guardians in their primary languages.

• Describing how students’ needs will be assessed.

  LEAs must present a plan for identifying students with academic and social-emotional needs and assessing those needs on a regular basis.

• Describing the LEA’s plan to provide supplemental instruction and support.

  LEAs must detail how they will provide supplemental instruction and other integrated student supports with their ELO grant funds, and how they fit into the seven strategies outlined in the ELO grant. They are not required to implement all seven strategies, but define which strategies will be implemented by working in concert with parents and the community at large. This includes supports such as mental health services and access to school meal programs.

The second component of the ELO grant plan is the expenditure plan. LEAs must complete the expenditure plan table by detailing the amount of funds they are budgeting to support each supplemental instruction and support strategy and update it with actual expenditures at a later date.

LEAs must also describe how these funds are being integrated with other federal elementary and secondary school emergency relief funds they’ve received, and how they will extend support to students and staff.

Instructional time and attendance accounting requirements

LEAs may extend instructional time by adding to the minimum number of days or minutes required for the school year. The ELO grant does not specify instructional time requirements for summer school or intersessional programs LEAs choose to implement. However, learning time for summer or intersessional programs cannot be added to the regular school calendar.

Any instructional minutes added to an in-person bell schedule for the regular school year must be under the immediate supervision and control of a certified employee of the LEA. If attendance during these additional minutes is optional, the instruction must be available to all students who wish to participate. LEAs adding instructional minutes also must not require students to give up a lunch period or attend sessions outside the district’s bus service.

If an LEA is adding instructional days, they must meet the following criteria:

• Days must meet the minimum instructional day requirements
• Length must be determined by the local governing board
• Attendance must be required by all students
• Students must be scheduled for at least the minimum day per grade level
• Instructional days must fall Monday through Friday

Reporting requirements

As a condition of receiving ELO grant funds, LEAs must complete the Expanded Learning Opportunities Grant (ELO-G) Assurances online. They must also follow the same reporting process they use for federal stimulus funding by submitting quarterly reports that include fiscal and programmatic information.

Reporting must include the LEA's:

• Fund overview
• Total allocated amount
• Total received amount
• Previous expended amount
• Current expended amount
• Funds expended
• Contact information

The report must be saved once complete by clicking the “Save Data” button at the bottom of the page. LEAs may reference their submission using the “Date Submitted” confirmation

ELO Grant Plan

LEAs must complete a grant plan if they have received ELO grant funds under California Education Code Section 43571(b). This grant plan must be adopted by the LEA’s local governing board at a public meeting and be submitted within five days of adoption to the county office of education, the California Department of Education, or the LEA’s chartering authority. Once submitted, the plan must be updated to include expenditures.

Every LEA receiving ELO grant funds must implement a learning recovery program that offers supplemental instruction, support for social-emotional wellbeing, and meals and snacks to students who fall into one or more of these categories:

• Students at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation Eliminate paperwork and save hours of data entry with comprehensive management solutions.
• Homeless students
• Students with disabilities
• Students from low-income families
• Students in the foster care system
• Disengaged students
• Students performing at or below grade level who were not enrolled in kindergarten in the 2020-2021 school year, are deficient in credits, are at risk for not graduating high school, and other students identified by certificated staff

This is the minimum requirement for allocation of ELO grant funds. To clarify these requirements, “supplemental instruction” refers to instructional programs provided in addition to regular instructional programs and “support” means interventions designed to meet behavioral, social, emotional, and other integrated student supports so that students may engage in supplemental instruction. “Students at risk of abuse, neglect, or exploitation” means those students have been identified in a written referral from a legal, medical, or social service agency or emergency shelter.

ELO grant funds may be used to implement one or more of the seven support strategies in accordance with EC Section 43522(b). These strategies include extending instructional learning time, accelerating progress to close learning gaps, integrated pupil support, community learning hubs, support for credit-deficient students, additional academic services, and school staff training to help ensure these strategies are implemented effectively. All services must also be delivered to students with disabilities in accordance with their IEP.

The ELO grant also presents fiscal requirements to LEAs, which will be monitored through an annual audit. The apportionment of funds is divided into three categories:

• A minimum of 85% of ELO grant funds must be related to offering in-person services pertaining to the seven strategies outlined in the grant
• A minimum of 10% of ELO grant funds must be used to hire paraprofessionals to provide supplemental instruction, prioritizing full-time positions. These positions must also be directed first toward English learners and students with disabilities. Funds used to hire paraprofessionals may be included as part of the 85% of the apportionment to provide in-person services.
• LEAs may use up to 15% of ELO grant funds to improve services for distance learning (prior to in-person instruction being available) or to prepare for in-person instruction.