Tennessee Department of Education issues FY26 ESSA consolidated funding application guidance to LEAs

The Tennessee Department of Education’s Federal Programs and Oversight Team provided a statewide webinar on the FY26 consolidated funding application (CFA) for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) grants, reviewing budget and submission rules, platform changes in ePlan, and program‑specific requirements for Title I–V programs.

The session summarized new and continuing requirements LEAs must follow when completing the CFA, including the use of budget tags, transfer/consortium rules, administrative cost limits, special set‑asides for homeless students, and documentation and contact requirements for foster care, juvenile justice and private school equitable services. The department noted the CFA opened March 1; CFAs are tentatively due in May and must be approved by the department by July.

Key guidance and changes

Budget tags and platform changes: The presenter said LEAs must assign one budget tag per line item in most grants to indicate an item’s purpose and to enable new filtering and tracking tools in the CFA. Title IV private school instructional funds are an exception; the presenter said private school Title IV items may carry two budget tags. The department added a new budget tag summary page that aggregates tags across the LEA budget.

Transfers and administrative limits: The webinar reviewed the CFA allocation (transfer) page. The presenter said LEAs that use consolidated administration must observe automatic calculations of administrative costs; if not using consolidated administration, LEAs must tag administrative costs in each grant and document them clearly in budget narratives. The presenter stated a 20% limit applies to consolidated administration transfers for several programs and that Title III and Title IV…