FY18 21st Century Community Learning Centers FAQ
1.On page 30 of the RFA for 21st Century grants, I wanted to clarify whether or not before school programming can be counted in the 12 hours per week required for programs.
We currently have 30 minutes of morning programming and then we have afternoon programming as well.
Will the morning programming be counted towards the 12 hours?
A.Morning hours can be counted toward the 12 hour requirement, provided that the minimum amounts of time and number of attendees are met. Page 35 of the RFA states that morning sessions must consist of 30 minutes or more of morning tutoring and must have a daily average attendance of 5 attendees per activity.
2.It has beenapproximatelyfive yearssince XXXXX County Public Schools received a 21st Century grant award.Our original grant served three schools. However, our district has reconfigured. Would we be considered a new applicant? Or would we apply for a continuation?
A.If any of the schools to be served by the grant for which you will be applying in this cycle were previously served by a 21st Century grant, the application would be for a continuation grant.However, if the consolidated schools have a new school identifying number, the applicant would be considered new.
3.Are elementary school applicants required to address goal 5? Goal 5 is “increase access to college/career preparation activities for middle and high school students.” Note: reviewers from last year’s competition critiqued elementary schools for not addressing goal.
A.All grants should address elements of college and career readiness as part of the program as outline on page 20 of the RFA under the definition of College and Career Readiness. Middle and High school programs would have a more detailed and elaborate plan to include these activities as a regular part of offerings.
4.We are discussing the possibility of a staggered transportation plan to enable our buses to travel to each student’s home instead of having drop off points. Here is the plan:Program will be available after school every day for every student Monday-Friday.Students living in western part of county would have transportation Monday and Wednesday.Students living in eastern half of county would have transportation Tuesday and Thursday. No transportation would be available on Fridays. Do you think this would be appropriate for addressing all students having access?
A.The district, school and co-applicant should determine the best plan to meet the needs of the students that will be served by the program.
5.Can a High School have an Area Technology Center as a Co-Applicant?
A.The Area Technology Center may not serve as a co-applicant if the center is administered or operated by the district or draws either direct or in-kind financial support from the district. The majority of ATC’s would be ineligible to serve as a co-applicant.
6.In the FY 18 RFA on page 25 is it Senate Bill 2009 or should it be Senate Bill 2017?
A.The applicant should consult the most recent guidance from the KDE for guidelines regarding specific components of assessment, accountability, proficiency, and timelines for implementation in designing the proposal.
7. Can a non-profit Family Wellness Center write a new grant and have the high school and middle school as co-applicants?
A.If either school is served by or has been served by a grant in the past, the application could not qualify as new. The type of applicant is determined by the status of the school in relation to being served by prior grants. A non-profit may serve as a fiscal agent provided that eligibility requirements outlined in the RFA are met.
8.When determining partners, if the BOE is one of our partners, do we still need to identify Food Services, Transportation Department, etc., as separate partners or would the BOE be an umbrella partner and these departments fall under it? Also since FRYSC, adult education, migrant and ESL are separate grant programs are they considered separate partners?
A.The decision to address these services collectively or individually is up to the individual applicant. Note that any required grant components (such as provision of USDA snacks or meals) should be directly addressed.
9.Since schools are no longer considered “Focus Schools”, can we go back to old data to determine competitive priority and focus school identification?
A.Competitive priority eligibility is determined based upon the criteria established in the RFA. Points are awarded by KDE based upon meeting stated criteria.
10.I am the principal at XXXXX Middle School in XXXXX County, Kentucky. We are a high poverty school, but we are a high performing school. Our demographics have changed drastically over the last eight to ten years and our students are needing additional supports and opportunities for after school activities. If we apply for the grant, will we be considered even though we are not a low performing school?
A.Any and all applicants are considered for eligibility and potential grant awards based upon the need for services to at-risk students as outlined in the grant competition. A school does not have to qualify as a low performing school to be eligible to apply.
11.Our district has A-1 schools as well as programs and academies that are not A-1 schools, but for example, A-4 or A-5 schools. Are the A-4, A-5, etc., eligible to be a 21st CCLC site and applicant?Individual programs and academies are generally not eligible to apply. All targeted school must be eligible for 2016-2017 TitleIschool wide programs or have a least 40 percent free and/or reduced lunch for the December 1, 2016 count.
A.Students in an A5 school may be served with students from the main school with which the A-4 or A-5 school is associated. This means that the A1 school with which the A-4 or A-5 is associated must first be served by a grant.An A-4 or A-5 school may not apply as a new grant, the A-4 or A-5 school may apply as an expansion applicant provided that it meets the requirements listed in the RFA. Note that this includes increasing the number of regular attendees from the main school’s original application by 50% and meeting the minimum of serving 50 students or 25% of the main school’s population on a regular basis (30 or more days in a year). In order to do this, the A-4 or A-5 school must have a sufficient number of same students enrolled on an extended basis who can attend the program for 30 days or more yearly.
12.Are schools that opened after 12/1/2016 eligible to apply for funding for FY18? We have a high school that opened in August 2017—are they eligible to apply?
A.Absolute priority is determined based upon the F/R numbers as of the December 1 count. Therefore, a school must be (at a minimum) in the 2nd full year of operation or beyond in order to be eligible to receive funds. Schools that were not in operation as of December 1 of the prior year would not be eligible for funding under this cycle of grant competition.
13.Two of the Priority sections for additional points are for “priority” and “focus” schools. However the 2016-17 KDE Accountability Profile and the 2016-17 School Report Cards do not include this information. How should eligibility for these areas be determined?
A.Please note amendments have been made for the 21st CCLC FY18 RFA regarding priority points. The original RFA has been removed and has now been replaced with the updated RFA. These amendments were made because The Kentucky Department of Education is in the process of phasing out its old accountability system and replacing it with a new accountability system created under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Kentucky Senate Bill 1 (2017). As a result of the transition, this year’s release does not include, classifications/labels (i.e., Priority Schools and/or Focus Schools). Therefore, earning additional Competitive Priority points through Priority and or Focus School identification will not be an option. Please see FY18 21st CCLC RFA with amendments.
14. I am tentatively planning to write a 21st century proposal in cooperation with XXXXXX Independent School District. XXXXX meets all of the desired qualifications, including highpercentage of free-and reduced lunch, low student enrollment,Title 1, and focus school. Yet, the school district is unusually small, with approximately 100 students in grades K-5.Would the size of the school district lower its chances of securing a 21st Century grant? Would the size preclude the district from requesting the full amount of funding (assuming, of course, that the full amount is warranted).
A.The size of the district to be served does not impact the decision to award a grant nor the amount of funds awarded. Grants are awarded based upon criteria established in the RFA following review by outside reviewers.
15.If the Fiscal agent/co-Applicant is a university, is the 8% indirect cost rate allowable? Does it require KDE approval? Is a part-time salary for an administrative assistant at the universityallowable? This position would be needed to assist the directorwith budget monitoring and reconciliation.
A.The maximum allowable indirect cost rate is 8% for CBO’s and FBO’s. Indirect cost expenses require prior-approval and are subject to all rules and regulations of the Kentucky Department of Education, including those for establishing an Indirect Cost Rate agreement. Salaries may only be used to directly support program services and activities. As described above, this would fall under indirect costs.
16. Would the small size of the target district (<100 students in K-5) be problematic? In other words, would the smaller school size make the proposal less competitive?
A.There is no minimum school building enrollment requirement, but the grant must serve a minimum of 50 students or 25% of the school’s enrollment (whichever is less) on a regular basis, meaning for 30 or more days per year.
17. Any possibility that the 21st CCLC training could ever be done on-line via webinar or other? Or at minimum spread the training locations across the state? This Lexington training will take me 12 total travel hours plus spending one night. The training is, in my opinion, needed—but it’s getting harder and harder to justify the travel cost and time allotment for this program.
A.The available trainings are face-to-face due to the extendedlength of time required for the training. In the future, if funds are available, the KDE will hold trainings across the state.
18. XXXXX County High School and XXXXX County Middle School are working on an application for the CCLC grant, but are confused as to which type of applicant we fall under. We (XXXXX County High School) received a CCLC grant in the 2007 cycle. Would we be considered a New Applicant or Continuation Applicant?
A.If any school to be included in this proposal has previously received a grant, the applicant is eligible for a continuation grant if criteria in the FY18 RFA is met. The type of eligibility is determined by the status of the specific schools to be served by this application and not by the status of the fiscal agent.
19.We are in our 4th year of a Cycle 11 Expansion. The Cycle 9 grant we had has not been funded for the past two cycles. I plan on writing a continuation for the Cycle 9 again. Are we eligible?
A.You are eligible to apply for continuation of the Cycle 9 grant if criteria in the FY18 RFA is met.
20.How many existing 21 CCLC programs are eligible to receive the Continuation priority points?
A.In order to receive the Continuation Priority Points, an applicant must meet the criteria outlined in the FY18 RFA.
21.I have a question about an elementary school in our district that was previously (Cycle 3). Our Superintendentis interested inexpanding 21st CCLC programming district-wide and this school is not currently funded. The staff that were involved in the Cycle 3 grant are no longer working or able to bereached for information about that program. Before moving forward on a grant app, we need to make sure that they completed their grant in good standing and a new application would be accepted by KDE. Is there any documentation that needs to accompany a new grant app, if they apply (financials, proof of services provided, etc)? Also, we wanted to write the application to include another school. Is this still allowable, to have 2 sites listed in one grant app?
A.If a school has previously been served by a state grant, the school would be eligible for a Continuation Grant upon meeting requirements outlined in the FY18 RFA. The FY18 RFA provides a list of all attachments that are required when submitting an application. For a copy of a Center Profile, reach out to LeeAnn Sell at and request the most current Center Profile.
22.On page 32 in the amended RFP there is a statement under the facility heading that states programs must be located in the schools being served. However, as a continuing grant applicant, our program operates in a facility provided by our co-applicant. This building is located within equal distance between both schools served and adjacent or in the same location to all of our collaborating partners including the Migrant Education Program, Community Education, Adult Education, ESL, the Public Library. Are there exceptions to this facility location regulation?
A.As a previous award implementing this way, the KDE will continuously review attendance to determine if program will need to relocate to the school. Grantee must demonstrate student numbers are being met based on the application.
23. XXXXXXX Elementary is interested in applying for the FY18 Request for Application 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. We have had this grant in the past but have not been awarded in the past couple of years. Are we eligible to apply for this grant?
A.Yes, if you meet the FY18 RFA requirements, the application would be Continuation.
24.If our high school has received the 21st CLCC grant before, but in this application I am adding the middle school, will we still be in the continuation or would we be considered a new applicant?
A.The high school would be a continuation. If the application for the high school includes the middle school, the application would be continuation because the high school has previously been served by a grant. However, if the middle school has never had a state grant and has a different school identifying number than the high school, the middle school would be eligible as a new applicant if the middle school wanted to apply separately.
25. We were a grant recipient in cycle 6 but I cannot find who the co-applicant was during that time. I have sent a request to xxxxxxxx for the report, but was needing to know if that will also contain the co-applicant if there even was one then?
A.All applications must include a Co-Applicant.
26.Our school had this grant during Cycle 3 about 3-4 years ago. Are we eligible to apply again since we now have a new principal?
A.Yes, if you meet the FY18 RFA requirements, the application would be Continuation. Guidance has changed since Cycle 3, so be sure to use the FY18 RFA.
27.We are in Cycle 11. This is the 4th year of our grant. Can we apply for a Continuation Grant and/or an Expansion Grant this year?
A.If all grant requirements outlined in the FY18 RFA are met, you would be eligible for an expansion grant.
28. In the budget portion of the grant, if we wanted to encourage/sponsor parentsto take the GED exam, could we use awarded funds to pay for exam fees? The fee for the exam is $100.00.Even if we only sponsored twoparents per year?
A.No. However, you can reach out to grant partners or the co-applicant to seek sponsorship.
29.We are a CBO, and we are working with the school district that we serve to determine if we will be the applicant, co-applicant or partner for a 21st CCLC grant. As a CBO, we will contribute to the grant project curriculum development, activity planning (including activities for families), teachers for a portion of the after school program, materials and the use of space in our facilities for some classes and events. Our question is: can the 21st CCLC grant be used to pay for the services, materials and use of facilities that we would provide as a co-applicant or partner through a contractual agreement, and entered in the proposed budget under the contractual heading? Can you give us guidance as to how we can pay for most of the expenses that we would incur as a co-applicant? Under any scenario, we will also be making significant in-kind contributions to the grant project.
A.Co-Applicant guidance is included in the amended FY18 RFA on page 14. The fiscal agent may not use grant funds to cover use of its own facilities. In addition, many of the expenses described above fall under indirect cost that has a maximum allowable amount. All contract services require prior approval per item in accordance with KDE requirements as covered upon award. The applicant should describe the proposed costs in accordance with the financial guidelines for allowable expenditures within the RFA.
30.XXXXXXX is a high poverty elementary school that had a successful 21st century grant during 2003- 2008, and a continuation grant from 2009-2012. With a change in administration and other obstacles, the grant was not written for continuation again for a second term.On the 2017 KPREP results, students showed significant reduction of novices in Reading and Math. There was minimal gain in the number of students scoring proficient. There is much need for extended programs in our school.The school now has a new principal that is interested in applying for the grant. These are the questions we have before applying.