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Early Grade Class Size Reduction Grants
2006-2007

Purpose

The purpose of the EGCSR Program is to provide funding to eligible school districts to reduce class size in grades kindergarten, one, two and three by establishing additional classrooms and hiring additional teachers as a means of improving student academic performance.

The requirements for the EGCSR Program are set forth in Section 144.11 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education. The following sections include definitions and requirements for implementing this program and directions for completing the application to the Commissioner of Education.

Definitions

For the purpose of the State EGCSR Program, significant definitions are as follows:

1. Allowable costs means any expenses for which grant funds may be used to reduce class size consistent with the establishment of new classrooms that provide developmentally appropriate programs for pupils from kindergarten through grade three. Allowable costs may include, but are not limited to, teacher salaries and benefits, supplies and materials and facility costs. Additional costs up to 10 percent of the grant award may be allowed to ensure reasonable class size in grades four and above.

Nonallowable costs include the following:

• Staff Development

• Expenses for new buildings or additions

• Salaries for non-instructional personnel and teaching assistants

• Computers or office equipment

• Travel

2. Facility costs means those expenses which include repair and construction costs, including incidental costs, necessary to convert spaces for suitable use as classrooms for young children, to convert existing classrooms for use by smaller classes, and to lease space to accommodate additional classrooms created using grant funds. Facility costs shall not include expenses for new buildings or additions.

3. Schools with the greatest need means those schools either currently identified as a School Under Registration Review and/or those schools exhibiting the lowest district score on either statewide standardized elementary grade English language arts and mathematics tests, or other tests identified by uniform district-wide developmentally-appropriate assessments combined with the highest average class size in a district.

Priority shall be given to schools with the greatest need within a district in which the average class size in grades kindergarten, one, two and three or any such grades housed in the school is documented as significantly larger than the district-wide average class size for comparable grades. In the alternative, if a school district has established a formal process by which to identify low performing schools, such district may use such process to determine greatest need.

Maintenance of Effort

A school district which spends less in local funds during the current year than in the base year for the salaries and benefits of teachers in grades K through three, and has fewer classrooms for grades K through three in the current year than in the base year, and has a higher average class size in the current year in common branch classrooms in grades K through three than it had in the 1998-99 school year may have its apportionment reduced in an amount equal to such deficiency.

Application Procedures

The list of districts that are projected to be eligible to receive funding under the New York State Early Grade Class Reduction Program, along with the projected level of funding are attached. Please send one original and one copy of the application and one original and two copies of the FS-10 to:

Grants Management
Room 674 EBA
New York State Education Department
Albany, New York 12234

Postmarked or hand delivered by June 30, 2006.

Grant Application (in Word)

Grant Amounts

The State Education Department does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, religion, creed, disability, martial status, veteran status, national origin, race, gender, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or sexual orientation in its educational programs, services and activities. Portion of any publication designed for distribution can be made available in a variety of formats, including Braille, large print or audiotape, upon request. Inquiries regarding this policy of nondiscrimination should be directed to the Department’s Office for Diversity, Ethics, and Access, Room 530, Education Building, Albany, NY 12234.

06/15/2007