Last updated April 5, 2020

 COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Schools
COVID-19 K-12 Resource Homepage > School Districts
waivers
State-level Waivers
At the March 26, 2020 meeting of the State Board of Education, State School Superintendent Richard Woods recommended and the State Board of Education approved a comprehensive package of waivers for school districts.
  • Click here for Superintendent Woods’ recommendation
  • Click here for the list of waivers approved by the SBOE and click here for the SBOE resolution
  • Click here for a letter of support from Governor Kemp
  • Click here for a SBOE guidance document on Waivers for Local Education Agencies from 3/31/2020
  • Click here to read the Governor's 3/27/2020 Executive Order on Waivers

Federal-level Waivers
On March 20, 2020, Superintendent Woods requested and received federal approval from USED to waive testing and accountability statewide for the 2019-2020 school year. 

On April 6, 2020, Superintendent Woods requested and received federal approval for another round of waiver requests to USED, including:
  • Eliminating the carryover limits for Title I, Part A (beyond 15%)
  • Extending the period of availability/use of current carryover federal funds through 2021
  • Suspending identified Title IV requirements (including the needs assessment for 2019-2020 school year, content area spending requirements, and 15% limit to purchase technology), and
  • Waiving the definition of professional development (for the 2019-2020 school year)
TESTING & ACCOUNTABILITY​
Click here for GaDOE's Assessment FAQ.

Testing
State and Federal Assessments have been waived for the 2020-2021 school year:
  • Georgia Milestones (EOGs and EOCs)
  • G-KIDS
  • GAA 2.0
  • End of Pathway Assessments (CTAE)
Click here to view the Testing section.
​
Accountability
The Georgia Department of Education has applied for a waiver and received approval from the U.S. Department of Education to waive federal assessment and accountability requirements. Therefore, there will not be a 2019-2020 CCRPI.

Georgia has submitted and the U.S. Department of Education has approved the following waiver(s):

WAIVED. ​Accountability and school identification requirements in sections 1111(c)(4) and 1111(d)(2)(C)-(D): the requirements that a State annually meaningfully differentiate all public schools and the requirements to identify schools for comprehensive and targeted support and improvement and additional targeted support and improvement based on data from the 2019-2020 school year.

WAIVED. Report card provisions related to certain assessments and accountability:
  • Assessment results
  • Other academic indicator results
  • English language proficiency assessment results
  • School quality or student success indicator results
  • Progress toward meeting long-terms goals and measurements of interim progress).
  • Percentage of students assessed and not assessed
  • Number and percentage of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities taking an alternate assessment
  • Information showing how students in a local educational agency (LEA) and each school, respectively, achieved on the academic assessments compared to students in the State and LEA.
  • Click here for a FAQ on the cancellation of testing. 
school nutrition
GaDOE has sought and received multiple waivers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture regarding operation of the school meal program during extended closures caused by COVID-19.
  • Click here for the School Meals page.
  • Click here for employee safety guidance for school nutrition programs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Click here for information on USDA's Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Seamless Summer Option (SS0).
federal programs -- FAQS, clip, carryover, monitoring (CFM)
Cross-Functional Monitoring
Superintendent Woods has suspended Cross-Functional Monitoring for Federal Programs for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.
Cross-Functional Monitoring visits will be rescheduled for the 2020-2021 school year.

CLIP & S-CLIP
The FY20 Consolidated LEA Improvement Plan (CLIP) will be extended all the way through FY21 with no updates required by GaDOE, unless requested by the LEA.

GaDOE is also working on a process for districts to be granted flexibility to carry over the currently approved FY20 CLIP and S-CLIP, including required attachments, to FY21 without a new submission, thereby allowing current plans to be continued when districts are able to return to regular operating conditions.

Federal Funds Allocations (1003 & Others)
GaDOE is reviewing guidance and establishing protocols to allow 1003 and other federal allocations set to expire prior or up to December 31, 2020 to receive a no-cost extension through September 2021.

Federal Programs FAQs
idea & special education
identified schools (csi, tsi, & promise)
The list of schools that were federally identified in need of improvement for 2019-2020 will continue for 2020-2021. No additional schools will be added to the list due to the waiver approved by the U.S. Department of Education below:

WAIVED: Accountability and school identification requirements in sections 1111(c)(4) and 1111(d)(2)(C)-(D): the requirements that a State annually meaningfully differentiate all public schools and the requirements to identify schools for comprehensive and targeted support and improvement and additional targeted support and improvement based on data from the 2019-2020 school year

Click here for 1003 School Improvement FAQs.

finances
  • Click here for answers to FAQs from GaDOE's Financial Review team.
  • State and federal funding allocations will remain unchanged for the 2020-2021 school year.​

FTE, CPI, and Student Class signoff has been extended until April 30, 2020. The data reported in the FTE and Student Class collections should reflect student information as of March 5th which was prior to districts closing.  The data reflected in CPI should reflect information from March also – basically a reporting of all staff on payroll.  
ctae
  • Georgia’s Perkins Plan Submitted. On March 26, the State Board of Education unanimously approved the submission of Georgia’s Perkins V State Plan by the original April 15 deadline.
  • Perkins V CLNA Submission Extended. Based on additional flexibility provided by USED, the Georgia Department of Education is extending the original May 15, 2020 deadline for the completion of the Perkins V CLNA and the Local Application submission by three months (August 15, 2020). Click here for details.
  • EOPAs suspended. Click here for guidance on End of Pathway Assessments (EOPAs)
  • All BRIDGE bill requirements have been waived for the 2020-2021 school year.
student privacy
USED Guidance
data: fte, cpi, AND STUDENT CLASS SIGNOFF
FTE, CPI, and Student Class signoff has been extended until April 30, 2020. 

The data reported in the FTE and Student Class collections should reflect student information as of March 5th which was prior to districts closing.  The data reflected in CPI should reflect information from March also – basically a reporting of all staff on payroll.  
grading, promotion/retention, graduating seniors
  • Click here for detailed GaDOE guidance on grading, promotion/retention, and graduating seniors.
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Based on follow-up questions we received, below provides some additional clarification:

 ‘Pass/Fail’ allowed for K-8 subjects/courses
  • Q: Can districts choose to assign “pass/fail” to students in grades K-8 rather than assign a numerical grade in response to school closures?

    Each local board of education is required to establish 70 as the minimum passing score for all subjects/courses taught in grades 4-12.  Working within those parameters, local districts may determine the requirements for content mastery, course completion, and final grades for their students.

    Yes, for subjects/courses taught in grades K-8, districts may choose to issue course designations of “pass” or “fail” in lieu of final grades or numeric scores, as long as 70 is established as the minimum passing score in grades 4-8. This option is not available for high school subjects/courses, including high school subjects/courses taught in middle school for high school credit.

    All subjects/courses for grades 9-12, including those courses that are taught in middle school for high school credit, shall have numerical grades of students in all courses for which credit is given in those courses​
teacher and leader evaluations
All TKES/LKES evaluations have been suspended for the remainder of 2019-2020 school year. In Governor Kemp’s executive order, it is ordered that the provisions of Code Section 20-2-210 relating to the Annual Performance Evaluation for Local Education Agencies shall be suspended through July 31, 2020.
LOCAL BOARD GOVERNANCE TRAINING
  •  The deadline for Local Board Governance reports for FY20 (originally due June 30) has been extended to September 30, 2020.
Georgia Department of Education's COVID-19 Resources, Supports, and Guidance
​The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) is working closely with the Office of the Governor, the Georgia Department of Public Health (GaDPH), and other agencies to ensure local school districts, parents, and students have the most accurate and up-to-date information regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus). > Learn More