Responsibilities
of
Education Service
Centers (ESCs)
As stated on the TEA’s Education Service Center Information webpage, the regional ESCs function as service organizations created to support LEAs “in attaining the missions, goals, and objectives set forth by the Texas Education Agency.”
It also states that the ESCs are responsible for providing many different kinds of services to LEAs, including training and technical support. “State-provided financial support must be used to develop, maintain, and deliver services to improve student and school district performance.”
As per the ESC ESSA Title I, Part C Migrant Basic Services Program Guidelines, the ESC is to do the following:
- Identify a Title I, Part C contact person
- Attend scheduled TEA meetings and trainings
- Deliver timely training and updates
- Disseminate information
- Ensure at least one ESC MEP staff member attends the Statewide Conference hosted by AMET
- Carry out responsibilities related to OSY recruitment support
- Submit quarterly ESC Performance Report
These services include providing ongoing training and dissemination of information regarding MEP topics and updates, regardless of whether the LEA accepts their MEP funds.
Supporting Different Types of Districts
Independent Project Districts
In addition to providing the LEAs with training content, dissemination of topics, and updates from TEA, the ESCs also conduct the following activities in collaboration with Independent Project Districts.
- Recruit migratory children as needed year-round
- Recruit OSY
- Assign a designated person as the Designated SEA Reviewer for ECOEs/COEs forwarded from LEAs
- Conduct Quality Control for ID&R and TX-NGS data collection processes
- Conduct annual ID&R Eligibility Validation as required by the TEA
- Forward MSIX move notifications to LEA TX-NGS data specialists as they are received from the TX-NGS Help Desk.
For more information about supporting Independent Project Districts, visit the AIIMS: Responsibilities of Independent Project Districts page.
SSA Member Districts
Per the ESSA Consolidated Grant application instructions for section GS2200, the designated fiscal agent of an SSA is the applicant that completes and submits a grant application with input from and on behalf of all its members. The ESC as the fiscal agent is responsible for the following:
- Completing section GS2200 in a timely manner. This form typically is available for the ESC staff member designated as the ESC eGrant grantee official one week before it is available to LEAs. (LEAs may then select their respective ESC as their fiscal agent.)
- Ensuring the funds are used in accordance with grant provisions.
- Maintaining all SSA financial and personnel records required for the TEA, in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The fiscal agent may be responsible for financial consequences concerning the following:
- SSA instances of noncompliance
- An SSA Member District’s inability to repay the portion of misappropriated funds in question
- Creating an SSA member district agreement that defines the composite entity and describes responsibilities of its fiscal agent and each SSA Member District.
The ESC is responsible for encoding the COE and other school information in TX-NGS. The TX-NGS/MSIX data entry specialist has an important role in assisting migratory students and families by ensuring that all data is accurately entered into the statewide TX-NGS database as per the timelines and descriptions outlined in the updated TX-NGS/MSIX Manual.
For more information about supporting SSA Member Districts, visit the AIIMS: Responsibilities of SSA Member Districts page.
Non-Project Districts
In addition to the responsibilities bulleted at the top of the page, the ESCs also conduct the following activities in collaboration with Non-Project Districts:
- Recruit migratory children as needed year-round
- Recruit OSY
- Serve students from Non-Project Districts.
Providing services to Non-Project Districts does NOT absolve an ESC from performing all other duties under the ESC Basic Services MEP grant.
For more information about supporting Non-Project Districts, visit the AIIMS: Responsibilities of Non-Project Districts page.
The responsibilities listed here are not all-inclusive. To learn more about any of the important ESC responsibilities, you can Explore by Topic.
When viewing the topic pages, if additional information or clarification is provided for ESCs, you can find it near the bottom of each page where you see this icon:
