The deadline for this competition is July 22, 2019.

Waivers for individual applications failing to meet the deadline will not be granted, regardless of the circumstances. Under very extraordinary circumstances the Department may change the closing date for a grant competition. When this occurs, the Department announces such a change in a notice published in the Federal Register.

Yes. Unless you qualify for an exception in accordance with the instructions found in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA), you must submit your application electronically.

You must submit your application electronically via Grants.gov. For more information on using Grants.gov, please refer to the “Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs” published in the Federal Register on June 10, 2019. The Grants.gov “Submission Procedures and Tips” document found in this application package; and/or visit www.grants.gov.

These boxes are not applicable for this competition. Please leave boxes 4, 5a, and 5b blank. You may input “NA” in each box but be sure not to include a slash (i.e., “N/A”), the system will not allow you to input special characters.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information. All U.S. Government agencies are required to disclose records upon receiving a written request for them, except for those records that are protected from disclosure by the nine exemptions listed in the FOIA. All applications submitted for funding consideration under this grant competition are subject to the FOIA. To read the text of the Freedom of Information Act, visit http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/foia/foiatoc.html.

No. An organization’s non-discrimination statement is not sufficient to meet the GEPA requirements. A GEPA statement should outline an entity’s potential barriers and solutions to equal access, specific to the proposed project.

Applicants should include a copy of such a response from the State Single Point of Contact in their application package submitted to ED and check the appropriate line on the SF 424 form.

The standard form that serves as a cover sheet for grant applications includes a certification statement that accompanies the authorized representative’s signature. That certification indicates that the information provided in the grant application is true and complete to the best of the authorized representative’s knowledge, and that any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or claims may subject the authorized representative to administrative, civil, or criminal penalties. As a result, an authorized representative should carefully review a grant application before signing in order to be sure that all information contained in the application package is correct. Additionally, an authorized representative should be sure that the application describes a project that has the organization’s support and reflects an approach that the organization is committed to implementing.

The Table of Contents shows where and how the important sections of your proposal are organized and should not exceed one double spaced page. The application package shows the “Table of Contents” falling within the “Project Narrative,” but the “Table of Contents” should be comprehensive, covering all application content.

Eligible applicants are LEAs, or consortia of LEAs, as defined by section 8101(30) of the ESEA. Any LEA that has ever received a grant under SCTG-LEA is not eligible for this grant.

No. Colleges and universities are not considered LEAs and thus are not eligible for this grant. Only entities that meet the definition of an LEA may receive funding under this program.

Yes, all applications must address the Absolute Priority 1 - Improving School Climate to be eligible for funding. Projects designed to develop, enhance, or expand systems of support for, and technical assistance to, schools implementing a multi-tiered system of support for improving school climate by using evidence-based efforts that are designed to foster safety; promote supportive academic, disciplinary, and physical environments; and/or encourage and maintain respectful, trusting, and caring relationships throughout the school community.

No. The Department neither requires nor endorses any particular multi-tiered system of support framework to be used in order to meet Absolute Priority 1. However, the applicant chosen multi-tiered system of support framework must be intended to improve school climate by using evidence-based efforts that are designed to foster safety; promote supportive academic, disciplinary, and physical environments; and/or encourage and maintain respectful, trusting, and caring relationships throughout the school community.

No. In addition to meeting Absolute Priority 1, applicants must identify if they meet absolute priority 2, 3, or 4. Applicants should indicate under which priorities they are applying in the abstract section of the proposal.

No. Applicants are not required to address all of the competitive preference priorities. Applicant may elect to address one, two, three, or none of the competitive priorities.

Yes. In order to be eligible for earning competitive preference priority points, an applicant must state in the abstract section of its application that it is seeking points under the competitive preference priority, and we encourage you to specifically identify your response to the competitive preference priority to assist reviewers. Applications that fail to clearly state in the abstract section that they are seeking to earn points under the competitive preference will not be reviewed against the competitive preference priority and will not be awarded competitive preference priority points.

Applicants should discuss in more detail how you will be addressing the competitive preference priority as part of the overall proposed project goals and objectives in the application narrative.

Be certain to complete all required assurances and certifications in Grants.gov and include all required information in the appropriate place on each form. The assurances and certifications required for this application are:

• Assurances for Non-Construction Programs (SF 424B Form)
• Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF LLL Form)
• Certification Regarding Lobbying (ED 80-0013 Form)
• General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) Requirements – Section 427

The Department has established the following performance measures for assessing the effectiveness of the School Climate Transformation Grant Program:

• (a) The number of training and/or technical assistance events to support implementation with fidelity provided annually by LEAs to schools implementing a multi-tiered system of support.
• (b) Number and percentage of schools annually that report an improved school climate based on the results of the EDSCLS or similar tool.
• (c) Number and percentage of schools annually that are implementing a multi-tiered system of support framework with fidelity.
• (d) Number and percentage of schools annually that are implementing opioid abuse prevention and mitigation strategies.
• (e) Number and percentage of schools that report an annual decrease in suspensions and expulsions related to possession or use of alcohol.
• (f) Number and percentage of schools that report an annual decrease in suspensions and expulsions related to possession or use of other drugs.

The Office of Safe and Supportive Schools plans to conduct a technical assistance (TA) conference call designed to assist applicants who might have questions related to the application process and procedure for this grant program. Applicants are encouraged to read through the entire application package before participating in this TA call. The tentative date and time is June 25, 2019 at 2:00pm Eastern Time. Applicants should reference our website at: https://www2.ed.gov/programs/schoolclimatelea/index.html for follow-up information related to this call.

Applicants will inherently address the four application requirements throughout the narrative under the relevant selection criterion. However, for screening purposes, applicants should clearly identify where the narrative is addressing one of the four application requirements.

ED School Climate Survey tool (EDSCLS) is a school climate survey resource developed by the Department in 2014. The resource is intended to assist States, local districts, and schools collect and access data related to their school climate. It focuses on three content domains: (1) engagement (which encompasses cultural and linguistic competence, relationships, and school participation), (2) safety (which encompasses emotional safety, physical safety, bullying/cyberbullying, substance abuse, and emergency readiness/management), and (3) environment, including physical environment, instructional environment, physical health, mental health, and discipline. Applicants can learn more about EDSCLS and download it for free by visiting https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/edscls .

The Department will first screen applications to determine which applications should be forwarded to reviewers based on the adequacy of the applications’ response to the absolute priorities, eligibility, and other requirements published in the NIA.

The Department intends to use non-federal reviewers from various backgrounds and professions with relevant expertise. These reviewers will use their professional judgment to evaluate and score each application based on the selection criteria.

Yes. Both funded and unfunded applicants will receive a copy of the technical review form completed by the peer reviewers. Individual reviewer names are deleted from the forms to preserve confidentiality.

Yes. Reviewers will have access to every part of the application (including the budget narrative, and project narrative, among others). For this reason and to facilitate the review, the Department encourages applicants to carefully follow the directions in the application package. Applicants should pay particular attention to the flow of the narrative and correctly label all attachments.

An indirect cost is an expense that you incur that is necessary for implementing the grant but may be difficult to identify directly with your grant. For example, indirect costs may include money spent for heat, light, rent, telephone, security, accounting, and Internet use.

This program uses an unrestricted indirect cost rate.

If an applicant has a current indirect cost rate, it should submit a copy of its current indirect cost rate agreement, including its current rate.

If an applicant does not have a current indirect cost rate agreement, applicants should submit a provisional indirect cost rate. Applicants may choose not to submit indirect cost rate information at the time of application; however, in order to charge indirect costs to the grant, this applicant will need to submit an indirect cost rate agreement. The applicant should include any proposed indirect costs in its proposed budget and budget narrative.

During the Department’s budget review process, which occurs prior to grant award, the Department reviews each applicant’s requested budget. If the requested budget does not include estimated indirect costs, they will not be included in the budget approved by the Department that forms the basis of the grant award. This means that, after award, a grantee would only have funds with which to charge indirect costs to the grant if the approved direct costs of the grantee’s project for any budget period exceed the grantee's actual direct costs. Where this occurs, the grantee may submit a requested budget revision to the Department program office to use the excess funds budgeted for direct costs to cover its indirect costs.

A grantee that does not have an indirect cost agreement at the time of application may still be able to charge indirect costs until it receives an approved rate, if the Secretary approves the grantee's request to use a temporary rate of ten percent of budgeted direct salaries and wages. However, after the grant award is issued, the grantee must receive an indirect cost rate within 90 calendar days of the start of the grant to continue to charge indirect costs to the grant.

For additional information about obtaining an approved indirect cost rate or applying for an indirect cost rate, contact the Department’s indirect cost group at IndirectCostGroup@ed.gov.

No. Under EDGAR 75.515, a grantee must use its general policies and practices when it hires, uses, and pays a consultant as part of the project staff. However, grant funds may not be used to pay a consultant unless there is a need in the project for the services of that consultant and the grantee cannot meet that need by using an employee rather than a consultant. Costs associated with a consultant must be reasonable, allocable, and allowable.

Program funds may be used for costs related to training, technical assistance, and capacity building, in addition to other allowable, allocable, and reasonable costs.

The terms of the applicable indirect cost agreement govern this issue. In general, the indirect cost rate is applied to direct costs to calculate the indirect costs that can be charged to a grant. However, many indirect cost rate agreements exclude from the direct costs used for this calculation equipment costs. Additionally, contractual costs that exceed the first $25,000 of each contract are excluded from the indirect calculation unless otherwise explicitly indicated int the indirect cost rate agreement.

No. The applicants are not required to secure cost sharing or matching funds under this grant program.

Yes. Section 75.700 of the Education Department General Administrative regulations (EDGAR) (34 C.F.R. 75.700) requires each grantee to comply with the content of its approved application. Therefore, if an application is approved, the grantee is responsible for fulfilling the commitment of non-Federal funds or in-kind resources set forth in Section B of ED Form 524 included in its application and any commitment of non-Federal funds identified in the application. Grantees are required to meet these commitments and to report on the extent to which they have been met in their annual performance reports.

The project period for this grant is up to five years (60 months). Each grant year is considered its own budget period. The application should include a description of the proposed activities for all five years, as well as a budget narrative that includes information for each budget year. Continuation awards are made based on an applicant’s ability to demonstrate substantial progress in their required annual performance reports.

Should you receive a grant, the start date will depend on when funds can be awarded and obligated. In general, applicants should use October 1, 2019 as a project start date; however, the proposed project start date might be slightly modified once a grant is received.

No. These costs are not allowable for this program. All applicants must complete the “training stipend” line item with a “0.”

As explained in the application package, an application should include one budget narrative. This narrative should provide a detailed description of how the applicant plans to use its requested grant funds and should be of sufficient scope and detail for the Department to determine if the costs are necessary, reasonable, and otherwise allowable, and for the reader to understand how the applicant proposes to use Federal and non-Federal funds to support the proposed project.

Additionally, the “Budget Narrative” section of the application package provides extensive detail, including examples, on how an applicant might present the assumptions on which the proposed performance-based compensation costs are based.