SED Home
Disclaimers and Notices
|
|
Back to EMSC Home SED Home Disclaimers and Notices |
The purpose of this funding is to assist in improving educational opportunities for migrant children and their families to help them succeed in the regular school program, attain grade-level proficiency, and meet the challenging content and student performance standards that all children are expected to master.
As migrant agricultural workers move to various parts of the country, so do their children, in many cases leading to interruptions in their education. Research has revealed that as a result of mobility, migrant students have difficulty in obtaining quality, effective instruction from schools, experience cultural and language barriers and often lack a sense of belonging to their school and community. Migrant children often function two or more grade levels behind their peers. They are 20 percent less likely to continue their education past the eighth grade and have a 50 percent chance of graduating from high school. Migrant children need special attention to compensate for the changes in their environment.
A migrant child is one aged 3-21 years whose parent, guardian, spouse or him/herself is a migratory agricultural worker or fisher and who has moved within the past thirty-six months from one school district to another to enable the child, the child's guardian, spouse or a member of the child's immediate family to obtain temporary or seasonal employment in an agricultural or fishing activity as a principal means of livelihood.
It is estimated that funds totaling approximately $8.0 million per year will be available Statewide for five years to fund the Migrant Education Outreach Programs.
Funds will be allocated across eleven regions in the State, according to the federal allocation formula. The counties included in each region and the amount of funds available for each region are as follows. One award will be made for each region. An applicant must serve a region in its entirety.
Five years, from September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2013 subject to availability of funds from the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and successful program delivery in the previous year.
Public School Districts, Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), Public or Private Nonprofit Agencies, and Institutes of Higher Education (IHE’s) are eligible to apply.
Expenses allowable under the grant include but are not limited to:
Compliance with OMB Circulars A-87, A-110, and other related directives as applicable is required. See the following links for more information:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a087/a87_2004.html, and
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a110/a110.html
Include a budget narrative on the Budget Category and Narrative Form for each
category of expenditure proposed for the grant (e.g., Professional Salaries,
Support Staff Salaries, Purchased Services, Supplies and Materials, etc.). The
narrative should include sufficient detail to allow reviewers to understand
what the funds will be used for and the relationship between the proposed expenditures
and project activities and goals.
Also complete a Budget Summary Form (FS-20) available at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/FS10orFS20.htm
The totals from each of the Budget Category Forms must correspond to amounts shown on the Budget Summary Form (FS-20). Please be sure to check your math. Please keep the FS-20 as a document separate from the application document.
Equipment items with a unit cost that equals or exceeds $5,000 should be included under Equipment, Code 20. Equipment items under $5,000 should be included under Supplies and Materials, Code 45.
General information about the categories of expenditures, general information on allowable costs and applicable federal costs principles and administrative regulations are available in the Fiscal Guidelines for Federal and State Aided Grants.
The approved copy of the Budget Summary Form (FS-20) will be returned in a window envelope to the contact person at the address completed on page one. Please make sure that the contact information is accurate, legible, and confined to the address field.
If an applicant wishes to serve more than one region, the applicant must submit a separate application for each region it wishes to serve.
Only complete applications will be reviewed. A complete application must include all items on the Application Checklist in the order listed on the checklist.
It is estimated that funds totaling approximately $8.0 million will be available each year for five years for Migrant Education Outreach Programs. Funds will be allocated across eleven regions based on the federally-approved allocation formula. One award will be made for each region. An applicant must serve a region in its entirety.
Incomplete proposals and proposals postmarked after May 9, 2008 will not be
reviewed.
Each eligible proposal will be reviewed by at least two reviewers. Each reviewer
will score the proposal according to the indicated point criteria in the Proposal
Narrative and the Budget using the Proposal Evaluation Rubric. If individual
scores are more than 20 points apart, another reviewer will rate the application. The
two scores closest in numeric value will be averaged to calculate the final
average score of the application.
Budgets will be adjusted to eliminate any unallowable or inappropriate expenditures.
Each proposal will be categorized according to the region it serves. Proposals
in each region will be ranked in order of final average score from highest
to lowest. Proposals that receive a final average score of 75 or more
will be considered for funding. Awards will be made to the highest ranking
proposal in each region.
In the event of tie scores, proposals with the highest score on item #2 in
the Proposal Narrative will be ranked higher.
Projects must operate under the jurisdiction of the local board of education, or other appropriate governing body, and are subject to at least the same degree of accountability as all other expenditures of the local agency. The local board of education, or other appropriate governing body, is responsible for the proper disbursement of, and accounting for, project funds. Written agency policy concerning wages, mileage and travel allowances, overtime compensation, or fringe benefits, as well as State rules pertaining to competitive bidding, safety regulations and inventory control must be followed. Supporting or source documents are required for all grant related transactions entered into the local agency’s recordkeeping systems. Source documents that authorize the disbursement of grant funds consist of purchase orders, contracts, time and effort records, delivery receipts, vendor invoices, travel documentation and payment documents.
Supporting documentation for grants and grant contracts must be kept for at least six years after the last payment was made unless otherwise specified by program requirements. Additionally, audit or litigation will “freeze the clock” for records retention purposes until the issue is resolved. All records and documentation must be available for inspection by State Education Department officials or its representatives.
For additional information about grants, please refer to the Fiscal Guidelines for Federal and State Aided Grants, http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/guidelines.html .
Grantees must submit an annual performance report on October 31st of each year of the grant. The performance report should demonstrate that substantial progress has been made toward meeting the project goals and the program performance indicators. Additional information about the annual performance report will be made available to grantees by SED after grant awards are made. Grantees that do not demonstrate adequate performance may be discontinued.
State law requires that the award of state contracts be made to responsible vendors. Before an award is made to a not-for-profit entity, a for-profit entity, a private college or university or a public entity not exempted by the Office of the State Comptroller, the Department must make an affirmative responsibility determination. The factors to be considered include: legal authority to do business in New York State; integrity; capacity- both organizational and financial; and previous performance. Before an award of $100,000 or greater can be made to a covered entity, the entity will be required to complete and submit a Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire.
Vendors are invited to file the required Vendor Responsibility Questionnaire online via the New York State VendRep System. To enroll in and use the New York State VendRep System, see the VendRep System instructions at: http:\\www.osc.state.ny.us/vendrep/systeminit.htm or go directly to the VendRep System online at https://portal.osc.state.ny.us.
For direct VendRep System user assistance, the OSC Help Desk may be reached at 866-370-4672 or 518-408-4672 or by email at helpdesk@osc.state.ny.us.
Vendors opting to file a paper questionnaire can obtain the appropriate questionnaire from the VendRep website: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/vendrep/templates.htm or will receive it with the award letter.
Chapter 166 of the Laws of 1991 added Article XI-B (The Prompt Contracting Law) to the State Finance Law promoting prompt contracting with NFP organizations.
More specifically, the Prompt Contracting Law sets time frames for processing contracts and related documents; provides for written directives, waivers of interest, and advances/loans to Not-for-Profits (NFPs) when those time frames cannot be met; and requires interest payments to NFPs when contract payments are late due to untimely processing of contracts and no advance or loan was provided. For information on loans for NFPs from the Short-Term Revolving Loan Fund, refer to Bulletin A-268. This bulletin explains the procedure to follow when contracting with NFPs.
Chapter 648 of the Laws of 1992 made several changes to Article XI-B. The 1992 revisions provided more reasonable time frames for processing local grant awards and federally funded contracts; allowed for state agencies and NFPs to waive interest payments under certain circumstances; eliminated interest penalties for contracts executed and funded in whole or in part for services rendered in a prior fiscal year; and limited the amount of time a state agency may suspend time frames to four and one-half months.
Chapter 292 of the Laws of 2007 added further amendments to Article XI-B. The 2007 amendments prohibit state agencies from requiring NFPs, as a prerequisite of the execution of a contract, to waive claims for interest that would otherwise be due; provide that a contract is deemed to continue, and the contract remains in effect when a state agency does not timely notify an NFP of an intent to terminate the contract; require that any waivers of interest be subject to the Office of the State Comptroller’s (OSC’s) approval and provide for the calculation and payment of interest to NFPs when OSC non-approves a waiver of interest; require state agencies to report prompt contracting information to OSC for inclusion in annual reports; and expand the NFP contracting advisory committee to sixteen members, require meetings at least quarterly, and expand the scope of the committee’s responsibility.
A key objective of the Prompt Contracting Law is to expedite the contract process, and corresponding payments with NFPs to avoid service interruptions and financial hardships for these organizations. OSC advises that state agencies take measures to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Prompt Contracting Law. To this end, state agencies should maximize their use of the standard contract boilerplate, including simplified renewal documents, written directives, and valid waivers of interest when contracting with NFPs.
State agencies utilizing waivers of interest should ensure that the waiver is signed and dated by the NFP, includes an explanation for the retroactive contract start date, and satisfies required time frames set by the law.
Note: The Prompt Contracting Law requirements pertain to all grant contracts with NFPs, including those that fall below the $50,000 threshold for the Comptroller’s prior approval.
Source: OSC A-Bulletin A-316 (update effective January 1, 2008)
A Payee Information Form is required only from an applicant that has not previously received grant funding from the State Education Department. The form must be completed and submitted with the application. The Payee Information Form and instructions are available at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/cafe/forms.html.
APPLICATION (In Word)
SCORING RUBRIC (In Word)