Tennessee opens revised ARP ESSER and ARP Homeless liquidation-extension process; first submissions due May 30

The Tennessee Department of Education on April 15 opened a revised application process in ePlan for late liquidation-extension requests for ARP ESSER and ARP Homeless funding and asked local education agencies (LEAs) to submit initial requests by May 30.

The change follows a March 28 letter from the U.S. Department of Education that rescinded prior automatic acceptance of late liquidation extensions and requires states to resubmit or reconsider requests on a project-by-project basis. The state said it will review LEA submissions and forward them to the federal agency for final action.

Debbie, a Tennessee Department of Education staff member, said, "The department has to make the request. We are the kind of that first line of review prior to it being able to be submitted." Julia Hudson, Tennessee Department of Education staff, explained that the revised instrument in ePlan is live under fiscal year 2026 and that LEAs can copy prior fiscal-year details into the new form: "you can copy over your information from the previous fiscal year." Debbie added the timeline: "We opened it today on April 15, and we will be asking that everyone submit their first submission to us no later than May 30."

What changed and how LEAs should apply LEAs should log into ePlan, select fiscal year 2026 and open the ARP ESSER liquidation-extension request or the ARP Homeless request (both instruments are now present). The…