• A focus on priority areas identified as California’s educational priorities as well as its own local priorities. For districts and charter schools, there are eight state priorities that are required to be addressed and are intended to encompass the key ingredients of high-quality educational programs. For COEs, the same eight priority areas are attended to as well as two additional areas.  
• A description of the overall vision for students, annual goals and strategic actions needed to achieve the goals, and proposed metrics for measuring the effectiveness of the planned actions.  As the plan is developed/reviewed annually, each school district/county office must engage parents, employees, educators, and the community in the process. As part of this process, the plan must provide data on how well the LEA has achieved overall goals and the goals for each numerically significant student group.
• A budget that aligns with projected spending and services outlined in the goals and actions and demonstrates that the district or COE plans to address potential inequities that may occur for specific student groups.

The ESSER III plan has been developed in response to the receipt of COVID-19 federal funding for LEAs from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP Act) Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER III) Fund.  This funding has been provided to EDCOE as emergency relief funds to address the impact COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the nation.