Letter to Hon. Miguel Cardona, Secretary US Department of Education - UMaine Farmington GEAR UP Grant

Letter

Dear Secretary Cardona,

We are writing to express our concern about the Department of Education's rejection of the
University of Maine at Farmington's (UMF) fiscal year 2021 application for funding for its
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) state
program, leaving Maine as one of seven states with no further GEAR UP funding moving
forward. Specifically, we are troubled by indications that, in its award decisions, the Department
appeared to depart from its statutory requirements. While it is the Department's job to decide
which program applications to fund, the Department must do so in the manner required by law.

In addition, we are concerned that the total level of funding the Department awarded to state
programs fell significantly short of the level the Department estimated in its public notice and the
budget justification it submitted to Congress just five months prior.

GEAR UP Maine has prepared economically disadvantaged students in Maine for college by
providing tutoring, mentoring, academic and career counseling, and exposure to college
campuses. Many of the participants of the program go on to earn college scholarships. Sevenyear grants allowed the program to follow cohorts of seventh graders through the first year of
their post-secondary experience.

UMF has administered GEAR UP Maine since 1999. It is a long-standing, effective, and greatly
needed program as Maine has one of the most rural school systems in the country. Since 2007,
Maine's state GEAR UP program has served approximately 29,000 students. In the application it
submitted this year, UMF had planned to partner with a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
program to encourage workforce development in Maine's heritage industries.

Given the significant negative impact the Department's decision not to fund GEAR UP Maine
will have for students in our state, we are concerned about ways that the Department's award
announcements appear to depart from the program's statute and request for proposals earlier this
year. These discrepancies are detailed below, along with questions. We ask that you respond to
the questions below by December 17, 2021.

1. The statutory authorization for GEAR UP requires that, "In making awards to eligible
entities described in subsection (c)(1) [i.e., States], the Secretary shall--(A) give priority
to eligible entities that--(i) on the day before August 14, 2008, carried out successful
educational opportunity programs under this division (as this division was in effect on
such day)."1 One of this year's state grants was awarded to Shippensburg University,2
which last month described itself as a "new" administrator of the program.

Given that Shippensburg University apparently wasn't carrying out a GEAR UP program
before 2008, why was it awarded a grant instead of other states' entities that the statute
required to be given priority over it? What steps will you take to rectify this?

2. On April 28, the Department's 2021 GEAR UP application notice estimated 11 awards
totaling $35.6 million4 for states this past year, in Fiscal Year 2021.5 On May 28, the Department repeated this estimate in the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Justification it submitted to Congress.6 Only four grants were actually awarded, however, and they totaled only $14.1 million. That's less than 40 percent of the estimated awards and award funding. This severely undermines the confidence that Congress can have in the Department's submitted Budget Justification and estimate for Fiscal Year 2022 awards.

Why was the awarded funding level for state GEAR UP grants so much lower than the
Department's estimated funding level for the program? What is the Department doing to
rectify these significant errors?

3. The statutory authorization for GEAR UP requires that: "In awarding grants from the
amount appropriated under section 1070a-28 of this title for a fiscal year, the Secretary
shall make available to eligible entities in section 1070a--21(c)(1) of this title [i.e., a
State] not less than 33 percent of such amount."

How does the Department interpret this statutory requirement? If the statutory language
requires at least 33 percent of each year's award funding to go to state programs, then it
appears that the Department violated this requirement by awarding less than 20 percent of
this year's award funding to state programs.

Thank you for your consideration of this matter, and we look forward to your response.