These frequently asked questions (FAQs) will be in addition to those included in the FY 2008 SS/HS Application. We will continue to post FAQs as necessary throughout the competition, so please check this page often.
Is there additional information that explains what is needed for the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) requirement?
For additional information on this topic go to:
http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/fiscalguid.doc.
You may also wish to talk to the director of Federal programs or your business office about whether or not your district meets the MOE requirements. Many other Federal programs require that LEAs demonstrate MOE, and some of these programs, including Title I, monitor compliance with the MOE requirements closely. If the LEA is demonstrating that effort is being maintained for other federal programs, you will meet the requirement for SS/HS.
For what time frame should I provide information regarding the MOE requirement?
You should provide evidence that you have met maintenance of effort for the immediate prior year. For applicants that failed to maintain effort, the statute requires that we make a reduction in the grant award based on that failure.
What is needed for the State Single Point of Contact (SPOC) requirement?
If your State is listed on the SPOC page - http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html
- you are required to send a copy of your SS/HS application the State's SPOC for review on or before March 14, 2008. In the letter of transmittal (for your SS/HS application) please request that SPOC send any comments related to your SS/HS application to: The Secretary, EO 12372-CFDA #84.184L, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Room 7W300, Washington, DC 20202-0124. You must include a copy of the transmittal letter [to the SPOC] with your SS/HS application. If your state is participating in the SPOC process, we cannot make a grant award until we have determined that the requirements for this process have been met. For more information go to: http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/rgeo12372.pdf.
If your State is not listed on the SPOC page, your State has elected not to participate in the SPOC process and you are exempt from this requirement.
How do I respond to the Equitable Participation of Private School Children and Teachers Requirement?
Applicants are required to engage in meaningful consultation with private elementary and secondary students in areas served by the applicant (or the members of the consortium if the application is being submitted for a consortium of LEAs) during the development and design of the proposed project. A statement describing outreach to private schools in the area that are applicable and includes the response(s) of private is sufficient to demonstrate that consultation has occurred. It is not sufficient to include a statement such as: “Private schools were/will be informed.”
How do I complete the Form 424?
1 – The type of submission is “Application.”
2 – The type of application is “New.”
3, 4, 5a, 5b, 6, 7 – Leave blank.
8a – The legal name is the name of your LEA, for example “ABC School District.”
8b – Enter the LEA’s employer or taxpayer identification number.
8c – Enter the LEA’s DUNS number.
8d – Enter the LEA’s address.
8e – Enter the department or division name within the LEA that is responsible for this grant application (this may not be applicable to all applicants).
8f – Enter the name and contact information of the person that can respond to questions involving the application. This person must be available during May, June, and July.
9 – The type of applicant; in most cases, this will be an independent school district but may also be a charter school (in instances where a charter school meets the definition of local education agency that is applied to this competition).
10 – The name of the Federal agency is “U.S. Department of Education.” Please do not include the other SS/HS federal partnering agencies in this box.
11 – The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number is “84.184L”, and the CFDA title is “Safe Schools-Healthy Students Initiative.”
12 – If you are submitting a paper copy application you do not need to include the Funding Opportunity Number. If you are submitting electronically, you can find the information on the grants.gov website and you must complete this item. The Federal Funding Opportunity Number for this program is ED-GRANTS-012408-001.
13 – If you are submitting a paper copy application, you do not need to include the Competition Identification Number. If you are submitting electronically you can find the information on the grants.gov website and you must complete this item.
14 – You are welcome to describe and insert the areas affected by the project but it is not required; you can leave this item blank.
15 – If you have a title for your project, you can include it here; otherwise you can leave this item blank.
16 – If you do not know your Congressional district, you can use Google or a similar search engine to identify it.
17 – The proposed project start date is July 1, 2008 and the proposed end date is June 30, 2012.
18 – The estimated funding for Federal is the total amount (for the 48 months of the project) that you are requesting. Applicant, State, Local, and Other are not required but if you have specific funding commitments you want to include, you can enter those amounts here. Also, if you intend on generating income through the grant, you should include it here as well.
19 – If your State is listed on this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.html
, you are required to send the application to your State's single point of contact (SPOC) - check box “a” and enter the date the letter was sent. If your State is not listed on the page check box “c.”
20 – You should talk with your business office to determine if the LEA is delinquent on any federal debt and check the appropriate box. This item must be completed.
21 – Include the applicable information for the LEA’s authorized representative. For most applicants the authorized representative is the Superintendent. Please note that a signature is required.
How do I complete the Supplemental Information Form?
1. Enter the name and contact information for the proposed project director or someone who can respond to questions concerning the application. This person must be available during May, June, and July.
2. If you have never received a SS/HS grant before – as an LEA or as a member LEA of a consortium, check “Yes.” If you have received a SS/HS grant – as an LEA or as a member LEA of a consortium, check “No.”
3. You will need to review information regarding Human Subjects Research at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/humansub.html to respond to this item.
What if my LEA does not participate in lobbying activity, how do I complete Standard Form LLL?
Write “n/a” in the first block of the form, sign, date, and submit the form with your application.
If you do not complete the form, we will assume you forgot to address the issue or submit it when you prepared your application package.
What documents are required for the SS/HS application?
FY 2008 SS/HS applicants are required to complete two detailed budgets for each of the four 12-month budget periods and an [single] ED form 524. The detailed budgets should use the same budget categories that are included on the ED 524 form (personnel, fringe, travel, equipment, supplies, contractual, construction, other, indirect costs, and training stipends). The first detailed budget should thoroughly demonstrate the needed costs to support Elements One, Two and Three for each of the four 12-month budget periods. The second detailed budget should thoroughly demonstrate the needed costs to support Elements Four and Five for each of the four 12-month budget periods. The ED form 524 should summarize all costs needed (from both detailed budgets) to support the entire SS/HS comprehensive Plan for each of the 12-month budget periods.
What is a detailed budget?
A detailed budget contains sufficient information to enable peer reviewers and Federal staff to determine that costs are necessary and reasonable to implement the proposed SS/HS project. Necessary costs can be linked or assigned to the project’s proposed activities, services, and interventions. For example, if an applicant’s proposed project includes several evidence-based programs, then necessary costs could include training, materials, travel, etc. Reasonable costs are those that would be incurred by a prudent person.
For an example of a detailed budget go to: http://www.sshs.samhsa.gov/apply/default.aspx.
Can we exceed the minimum amount established for the enrollment of our LEA in year 1 if we reduce it by that amount in year 2 and not exceed the total amount eligible for the entire 4 years?
No, applicants should ensure that their budget request for each of the four 12-month budget periods does not exceed the maximum funding request allowable for their student enrollment data. If one or more of the four 12-month budget periods exceeds the maximum funding request for a year - regardless if subsequent budget requests are reduced by the amount of the overage -the application will be deemed ineligible and will not be forwarded to peer review.
Since there are two sets of detailed budgets, should my application also include two ED 524 forms?
No, the SS/HS application should only include one ED 524 form. The 524 should include the yearly request for the entire proposed SS/HS project. Applicants should add the total amount from each of the budget categories on both of the detailed budgets and enter that amount on the ED 524 form.
For example, if for year one, the amount for personnel on the detailed budget for Elements One, Two, and Three equals $750,000 and the amount for personnel on the detailed budget for Elements Four and Five equals $200,000 then the total amount for personnel for year one that should be entered on the personnel line of the ED 524 form is $950,000.
Where should budget documents be placed in the SS/HS application?
If submitting by paper, the two detailed budgets and the ED 524 form should be included as Attachment D. If submitting electronically, the two detailed budgets and the ED 524 form should be attached to the Budget Narrative attachment form.
One of the budget categories on the ED 524 form is indirect cost. What are indirect costs?
An indirect cost is an expense that your grant may incur that is necessary to implement grant activities but may be difficult to identify with your grant. Examples of items often included in indirect cost pools are utilities, rent, accounting and pay roll costs, and Internet use.
If you wish to recover indirect costs as part of your SS/HS grant, you must use a negotiated indirect cost rate and provide proof of your current negotiated indirect cost rate with your grant application. For more information on this topic, please see: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocfo/fipao/icgindex.html. You may apply the unrestricted negotiated indirect cost rate for your SS/HS project.
You are not required to recover indirect costs for your project or include such costs in your project’s budget.
Who can provide me with information on our negotiated, unrestricted indirect cost rate?
If you do not know your negotiated, unrestricted indirect cost rate, we encourage you to contact your business office. Generally, negotiated indirect costs rates for LEAs are calculated and assigned by State Education Agencies. Your business office should be able to provide you with the negotiated, unrestricted indirect cost rate, expressed as a percentage, as well as the documentation you need to submit with your application (a signed letter or a page from a State website).
Some LEAs may have negotiated an indirect cost rate with the U.S. Department of Education. If your LEA has a negotiated indirect cost rate assigned by the U.S. Department of Education, you may also use that rate.
If your business office has not negotiated this rate in the past, please contact Katrina McDonald with the Department of Education’s Indirect Cost Group at 202-377-3838 or Katrina.Mcdonald@ed.gov.
What kinds of expenditures are not allowable?
We do not have a list of all costs that are allowable and/or unallowable. The following are some examples of unallowable costs: purchase of vehicles; purchase of guns and body armor; purchase of police dogs; cash incentives for project participants (students, parents, or staff); costs to support banquets and other celebratory events; and costs to support entertainment and sporting events. Additionally, there is a 10% limit placed on costs related to security equipment and security personnel. For more information on allowable costs, you should review OMB Circular No. A-87 Cost Principles for State, Local, and Indian Tribal Governments ( http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a087/toc.html).
Costs included in the budget should be those necessary to implement the grant. Peer reviewers will evaluate your budget against the budget selection criteria on page 28 of the application. Applications that score in the funding range will be reviewed by Federal SS/HS staff to assure that costs are allowable, necessary, and reasonable.
What happens if a budget includes items that are not allowable or appear to be excessive for the scope of work described in the application?
Peer reviewers may award less than the 5 points assigned to the budget criteria if the proposed detailed budgets are not linked or assigned to proposed activities, services, or interventions included in the project or if the proposed costs are not reasonable in relation to the number of students, staff, or the objective to be achieved. Peer reviewers do not evaluate project budgets for allowable costs; thus no points are deducted for inclusion of unallowable costs.
Once applications are scored, SS/HS federal staff will review proposed budgets for those applications that score in the funding range to ensure that the amount requested is necessary, reasonable, and allowable. If an item is determined to be unnecessary, unreasonable, or unallowable, the budget will be reduced accordingly. This action does not affect the application’s score.
Are grant writer’s fees allowable costs?
A grant writer's fee is an allowable cost. However, in many cases the cost is encumbered before the grant is funded, so it would be considered a pre-award cost. If an award is made, an applicant may be reimbursed for allowable pre-award costs provided the cost is reasonable and was incurred within 90 days of the grant award; under certain circumstances the costs may be incurred outside of the 90 days.
Why do some sub-criteria include a note?
During the FY 2007 competition, some applicants were not clear about where certain information should be included in the SS/HS application: in the narrative, in the logic model, or in the preliminary MOA. For some sub-criteria, the information is to be included in more than one place in the application. For those sub-criteria where the information should be included in both the narrative and the logic model, or the narrative and the preliminary MOA, we have included a note to alert applicants of this expectation.
Applicants are also reminded not use the logic model to circumvent the 40-page limit placed on the narrative portion of the application. Peer reviewers are instructed to look for information in both places when applicable and to reduce points accordingly if it’s not referenced in both places.
Is there a specific community assessment that should be completed for the SS/HS application?
There is not a specific community assessment tool you are required to use, although you need to complete a community assessment in order to address selection criterion for the program. Before submitting an SS/HS grant application, schools and communities should assess needs and identify gaps in services as well as opportunities for building developmental assets in youth and families.
In responding to the “Community Assessment” selection criteria, must my application address all domains and levels of risk and protective factors?
Your application should address those domains and levels of risk and protective factors that are applicable to your community. For more information on risk and protective factors, go to http://www.helpingamericasyouth.gov/.
Should we name an evaluator in our application?
No, the selection criteria related to evaluation are:
- The extent to which the applicant’s project narrative describes a plan for regularly monitoring program implementation, and identifies process measures that the applicant will use to assess the quality and completeness of the activities under the grant.
- The extent to which the applicant’s project narrative AND logic model identify outcomes that are clearly linked to the identified objectives and activities for the project, and specify how outcomes will be measured.
To fully respond to these selection criteria, it is not necessary to name a local evaluator in the application.
Furthermore, Department of Education General Administrative Regulations requires that all procurement transaction must be conducted in a manner that provides for full and open competition consistent with the standards in EDGAR (section 80.36). Therefore, it should not be presumed that an individual’s or an organization’s assistance with the development of an application will result in the receipt of a contract for work if the grant is awarded. Please carefully review the FAQ on this topic on page 46 of the application.
In responding to the Management criteria, are applicants required to develop data systems?
No, the LEA and many of its SS/HS partners and service providers may already have systems in place that are used to collect data relevant to the proposed SS/HS project. These data systems may track a specific activity (such as truancy) or be used to manage administrative service data (such as the number of patients served). Your response to the criteria should describe how existing data systems will be used to support the management and decision making process for the grant. Alternatively, if needed data systems are not already in place, your response should describe plans for developing and implementing new systems to collect data needed to manage the project and guide decision making. The type of data and data systems will depend on each applicant’s project design.
Should I have baseline data in my application for all of my expected goals and objectives?
To the extent possible, applications should include baseline data for GPRA measures and other project specific outcomes included in the proposed project. Your local evaluation plan should address baseline data (before grant activities, curricula, programs, and services are implemented) and collect actual annual performance data. Additionally, existing local data can help establish your community’s needs and strengths.
If an award is made and no baseline data exists, grantees will be expected to collect pre-implementation data during the first year (before activities, curricula, programs, and services are implemented) to establish baseline data for both GPRA and program measures.
In responding to the “Budget” selection criteria, can I reference Attachment E which contains the itemized budget?
No, simply referring readers to Attachment E does not respond to the selection criteria. Applicants should prepare a narrative response (just as they have to respond to other selection criteria) to the “Budget” selection criteria. The narrative response should explain how the proposed detailed budgets (provided in Attachment E) correspond to the project design and are reasonable in relation to the students, staff, and the objectives of the project.
Can I fax in documents and forms for my application?
Faxing the signed forms, assurances, and preliminary MOAs is acceptable only for applications submitted via Grants.gov. All forms, assurances, and documents that require a signature for an application submitted via Grants.gov must be completed, signed, and faxed to the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at 202-260-7767 within 3 working days of submitting your application. Required documents with signatures for applications submitted via Grants.gov must be submitted within this window. Please retain the documentation provided by your facsimile equipment to demonstrate that you have met this requirement.
What if I am unable to transmit my documents to the above number?
If you are unable to transmit items to support an electronic submission, call Karen Dorsey at 202-708-4674.
What if I am to verify successful submission of my electronic application before 4:30 p.m.?
If your application does not have a status of “Validated” (using the “Track My Application” link at Grants.gov) with a date on or before 4:30:00 of March 14, 2008, it has not been successfully submitted.
If you have any doubt about whether or not your application was submitted and received by the deadline (March 14, 2008 on or before 4:30:00 pm EST), we recommend that you submit a hard copy of your application according to the detailed instructions for submitting hard copies of applications on page 1-3 of the application package. Please be certain that the hard copy of the application is submitted on time, and that you receive and maintain proof as described in the transmittal instructions.
If you submit a hard copy application, include your signed forms with the paper application that is mailed. Additional or supplemental materials cannot be faxed in to accompany a hard copy submission.
What scale will be given to peer reviewers for scoring?
15 Points
0 Subcriterion is not addressed
1-5 Subcriterion is poorly developed (major weaknesses)
6-10 Subcriterion is adequately developed (some weaknesses)
11-14 Subcriterion is strongly developed (minor weaknesses)
15 Subcriterion is fully developed with no weaknesses
10 Points
0 Subcriterion is not addressed
1-3 Subcriterion is poorly developed (major weaknesses)
4-6 Subcriterion is adequately developed (some weaknesses)
7-9 Subcriterion is strongly developed (minor weaknesses)
10 Subcriterion is fully developed with no weaknesses
5 Points
0 Subcriterion is not addressed
1 Subcriterion is poorly developed (major weaknesses)
2-3 Subcriterion is adequately developed (some weaknesses)
4 Subcriterion is strongly developed (minor weaknesses)
5 Subcriterion is fully developed with no weaknesses
Where can I find out more about the national SS/HS evaluation?
No. You do not need to select a local evaluator prior to applying. However, you should include information about the professional qualifications you will look for in an evaluator.
If we identify a specific evaluator in our application package, must we employ that evaluator if we receive a grant?
You can read more about the national SS/HS evaluation at
http://www.sshs.samhsa.gov/community/evaluation.aspx, and click on cross-site evaluation.
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