Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can any LEA apply for one of these construction grants?
No, only those local educational agencies (LEAs) eligible for Impact Aid under Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are eligible to apply. There are also other eligibility requirements that further limit the applicants for the FY 2017 competition.
2. Can my school apply for a grant?
No, only eligible LEAs may apply. Your LEA’s authorized representative must sign the application. Applications from individual schools, individuals, or other entities will be discarded.
3. Is there a matching requirement for these grants?
An LEA is required to provide a 50 percent match for an emergency repair or modernization grant award, unless the LEA has “no practical capacity to issue bonds.”
4. What does “no practical capacity to issue bonds” mean?
An LEA is deemed to have “no practical capacity to issue bonds” if the total assessed value of real property in the LEA that may be taxed for school purposes is les than $25,000,000.
5. My district has only 20 percent federally connected children, but we have an individual building in the district with emergency needs that serves mostly federally connected children. Can I apply on behalf of this building only?
No, we are accepting applications under Priority One only, so the LEA must either have 50% of its students living on Indian Lands, or with a parent in the Uniformed Services, or receive a Heavily Impacted payment under Section 7003(b)(2).
6. If we receive an emergency repair or modernization grant, how long do we have to expend the funds?
The period of availability will be specified in the grant award documents, and will depend on the scope of the individual project. In general, we expect emergency grants will be expended within a short time period.
7. Can we apply for a grant to fund a project if we already have lined up funding from other sources?
This decision is made on a case by case basis. These grants are subject to supplement-not-supplant regulations (see 222.174). In general, no, Federal funds for emergency repair and modernization grants cannot be used to supplant other state or local funds that are available for a project. You should review section 222.174 of the regulations for further details regarding supplanting.
8. We funded an emergency repair project from our current fund. Can we use our grant award to reimburse our current fund for this expenditure?
No, reimbursing another source of funds is considered supplanting, and is not permitted. You should review section 222.174 for further detail about supplanting.
9. We have several buildings that need repairs and modernization. Can we apply for grants for all of these?
No, an LEA may only submit one application, detailing its emergency needs for one facility. This is a change from prior years’ competitions due to a regulatory change in section 222.183 published April 28, 2011.
10. Can we include photographs and design drawings in our application?
Photographs or other materials will not be considered. You should describe your project in a concise narrative within the grant application forms. Other materials submitted will be discarded before applications are presented to the reviewers.
11. If we submit an application that doesn’t get funded, can we apply again next year?
The Department will retain applications that are not funded, and include those applications for consideration along with new applications received for the following year (assuming Congress appropriates funding for the 7007(b) program). Section 222.189 of the regulations provides additional detail for this procedure.
