SRSA Applicant Information
The fiscal year (FY) 2024 Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) grant application deadline is May 10, 2024.
Steps for Applying for an SRSA Grant:
- Obtain a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) if your LEA does not already have one. An LEA can obtain a UEI for free through the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) website.
- If your LEA has a UEI, verify that the UEI registration is active in SAM.gov
- An LEA must be registered in SAM.gov and have a UEI that is active in SAM.gov in order to access its SRSA grant funds.
- Registering and activating your UEI in SAM.gov is FREE of cost. You do not need to pay a third-party vendor to register or activate your UEI in SAM.
- To check the registration status of your LEA’s UEI, use the SAM.gov Status Tracker.
- To update or reactivate your LEA’s UEI registration in SAM.gov, log into your online account or call 1-866-606-8220.
- You may also use the FSD.gov Live Chat to connect with a SAM agent directly.
- Complete the SRSA application during the application period. View the Notice of Application Deadline in the Federal Register for official notice of the SRSA application timeframe, as well as the required procedures for submitting an SRSA application.
All FY 2024 SRSA eligible LEAs with a positive estimated allocation will receive an email with a unique application link in March of 2024. The email will include customized instructions for completing the electronic application via the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Connect.gov Survey platform. When available, you may review your LEA’s SRSA eligibility, estimated SRSA allocation, and the name of the primary contact who received the invitation email by viewing the current version of the Master Eligibility Spreadsheet on the SRSA Eligibility page.
An eligible LEA must submit an electronic application via Connect.gov Survey by May 10, 2024 to be considered for an FY 2024 SRSA grant award. If you have any questions about the SRSA application process, please contact the REAP team directly at reap@ed.gov.
SRSA Funding Formula and Allocation Information
SRSA grant funds are allocated to eligible LEAs that submit an application based on the following formula:
- The number of students in average daily attendance, subtract 50
- Multiply this number by 100
- Add $20,000 – total amount may not exceed $60,000
- From the total above, subtract the amount of funding under Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A the LEA received in the previous fiscal year
Congress determines the amount of funds available for REAP on an annual basis. Per ESEA section 5234, the REAP appropriation from Congress is divided equally between the SRSA and the RLIS programs.
The actual size of an LEA’s allocation depends on several factors including: the amount of funds Congress appropriates for REAP, the number of LEAs that are eligible and apply for SRSA funds, the LEA’s ADA for a preceding year, and the LEA’s Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A award amounts for a preceding fiscal year. The Department collects information on the Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A award amounts from the SEAs when collecting eligibility data each year. The maximum amount of SRSA funds an LEA may receive in any year is $60,000.
Some LEAs that meet the eligibility criteria of the SRSA program (i.e., being both small and rural), may not receive an SRSA grant award due to the funding formula described above. If the combined amount of Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A funding for a preceding fiscal year exceeds the LEA’s initial SRSA award amount, the resulting final SRSA award amount would be $0. In these cases, LEAs are not invited to submit an SRSA application for that fiscal year.
If the amount appropriated for SRSA is not sufficient to award the calculated allocations, all awards are ratably decreased. Alternatively, all award amounts are ratably increased if the amount of funds made available by Congress is more than the total of the calculated allocations.
