Extension of Texas State Plan for
Adult Education and Family Literacy
6.0 Procedures for
Funding Eligible Providers (Sec. 224 (b) (7))
6.1 Applications
Texas will extend current grants for one year in 2006-2007. Section
232 of AEFLA requires
that eligible providers desiring a grant or contract shall submit an
application to the Texas Education Agency containing information and
assurances that TEA requires,
including:
(1) a description of how funds awarded will be spent; and
(2) a description of any cooperative arrangements the eligible provider
has with other agencies, institutions, or organizations for the delivery
of adult education and literacy activities.
Allocation of Funds
Section 222 (a) of AEFLA requires the state to use not less than 82.5
percent of the grant funds to award grants and contracts under section
231 and to carry out section 225 programs for corrections education
and other institutionalized individuals.
Of the 82.5 percent funds, not more than 10 percent will be set-aside
for statewide competitive grants for programs for corrections education
and other institutionalized adults (Section 225). The
remaining adult education funds will be allocated annually in accordance
with the State Board of Education approved formula. The current funding
formula is as follows:
(1) Twenty-five percent (25 percent) of the funds available shall
be allocated based on the best available estimates of the number of
eligible adults in each county and school district geographic area
within each county.
(2) Seventy-five percent (75 percent) of the funds available shall
be allocated based on student contact hours reported by each school
district geographic area and for the most recent complete fiscal year
reporting period.
(3) A school district geographic area's student contact hour annual
allocation shall not be reduced by more than 10 percent below the preceding
fiscal year's contact hour allocation provided that:
(A) sufficient funds are available; and
(B) the school district geographic area's contact hour performance
used in calculating the allocation was not less than that of the
preceding fiscal year.
Allocation amounts by county units and school district units within
each county are generated as soon as the amount of available federal
funds is known. These funds are not an entitlement to the
school district but belong to communities.
6.2 Eligible Providers
(Sec. 203 (5))
Eligible providers for a grant
or contract under AEFLA are:
(1) a local educational agency;
(2) a community-based organization of demonstrated effectiveness;
(3) a volunteer literacy organization of demonstrated effectiveness;
(4) an institution of higher education;
(5) a public or private nonprofit agency;
(6) a library;
(7) a public housing authority;
(8) a nonprofit institution that is not described in any of these
subparagraphs and has the ability to provide literacy services to
adults and families; and
(9) a consortium of the agencies, organizations, institutions, libraries,
or authorities described in any of items (1) through (8).
Under the Texas Education Code §29.252
ff, eligible providers for a state grant are:
(1) public school districts;
(2) public junior colleges;
(3) public universities;
(4) public nonprofit agencies; and
(5) community-based organizations approved in accordance with state
statutes and rules adopted by the State Board of Education.
6.3 Notice of Availability
2006-2007 will be a non-competitive year. Continuation grant awards
will be made based on compliance with state and federal guidelines.
6.4 Process
Adult education eligible providers submit continuation applications
electronically directly to the Texas Education Agency in accordance
with established standard procedures and instructions. Eligible
providers apply directly to the state education agency for federal
funds to provide services to a school district region, a portion of
a school district (based on the numbers of undereducated adults to
be served), to multiple school district regions, to a county, to a
portion of a county, or to multiple counties. This will be the
fifth year of a multi-year grant.
Applicants will use the
Grant
Process to submit application for continuation. The eGrants application
is a comprehensive web portal, which provides online submission, tracking,
review, and processing of Kindergarten through 12th Grade (K-12) and
adult education grant applications. Texas Education Agency's envisions Grants
to be the one easy, efficient, and effective online grant management
system for all discretionary and formula grants.
Grants
is in effect for all grant submissions from TEA. Two pilot applications
implemented in May and June of 2003 indicate approximately 1,618 users.
Overall, TEA has processed 2,967 requests for access to eGrants of
which 2,947 are external users and 20 internal users. TEA develops
applications for Even Start Family Literacy, English Literacy and Civics
Education, Adult Education Programs/TANF and
the Consolidated Application for Federal Funding.
Standard Application System
Applicants for continuation grants will use the Standard Application
System (SAS)
forms developed by the Texas Education Agency and distributed in April
of each year as part of a Request for Application (RFA)
package. During competitive years, the date of announcement may be
influenced by the date the USDOE notifies
states of their allocations. Included in the forms are budget, needs
assessment, program description, evaluation, staff qualifications and
training schedules, and assurances. The Indicators of Program
Quality approved by the USDOE in 1993 have been incorporated into the
application. Every effort is made so that at least six weeks
are provided from the date of announcement to the due date to TEA.
An RFA is issued based on a standard format used by TEA. The amount
of formula funds available to each geographic area is included in the
RFA in accordance with State Board of Education Rules as is the timeline
for applying for funds.
Applicants apply to the Texas Education Agency for Sec. 231 funds
and for Sec. 225 funds through SAS 331(see Section 6.4 for specific
details about the Standard Application System). Applicants apply to
the Texas Education Agency for Section 223 funds through Grants using
electronic SAS 302 forms. The process used by the Texas Education Agency
to notify eligible providers concerning the availability of these funds
is described in detail in Section 6.3.
All applicants follow the same application procedures. The RFA provides
instructions for preparation of applications, a dateline for submitting
a notice of intent to apply and a dateline for receipt of the applications,
review criteria, assurances, and other legal, fiscal, and program requirements. Applicants
that are not public education entities must also submit indicators
of financial stability such as an audited financial statement or similar
report.
The TEA awarded three-year competitive grants. A competitive RFA is
issued for the first year of the three-year funding cycle. For the
second and third years of the cycle, successful grantees will submit
non-competitive continuation applications using SAS forms. SAS forms
are used to submit annual budgets, previous year progress performance
objectives as well as updated programmatic information, including staff
qualifications and professional development plans.
Collaborative Planning
Since collaborative planning at the local level is an ongoing process,
adult education and family literacy applicants must gather the necessary
needs information, conduct surveys, meet with advisory committees,
identify resources, establish priorities, develop objectives, develop
evaluation plans, develop staff development plans, develop outreach
plans, and budget funds to various line items TEA and HCDE (Texas
LEARNS) will encourage the collaboration with the new regional training
centers and resource centers.
Consortia
State Board of Education rules require that grant applicants who will
serve as fiscal agents for a consortium of eligible providers must
consult with other service providers in the consortium in developing
the application. Each grant recipient will be required to have
written interagency agreements delineating specific responsibilities
in regard to fund expenditures and/or services to clients with other
eligible entities that are participating in a consortium included in
the application. Fiscal agent responsibilities are delineated
in the SBOE rules.
Plans developed by consortia must provide for a system of instructional
services delivered through participating eligible providers and must
include cooperation with other public and private agencies, businesses,
and organizations with undereducated adult clients and/or employees. Each
fiscal agent must also have an advisory committee composed of a broad
spectrum of community representatives, including workforce development,
as required by State Board of Education rules.
Non-consortium applicants
Eligible applicants who choose not to be members of a consortium must
also provide evidence of coordination with existing services sponsored
by other providers in the area proposed to be served so that unproductive
duplication of services does not exist. In addition, they must
also either have a local advisory committee as required by State Board
of Education rules or indicate in the application the procedures that
will be used to establish an advisory committee if they are funded.
Funds Availability
Annual funding of adult education is subject to availability of funds
from the federal government. The State Board of Education may
require applicants to provide the share of matching funds, cash or
in-kind, required by federal law. A delay in the receipt of the
federal allocation for Texas may delay the issuance of a contract.
6.5 Evaluation of Applications
(Sec. 231 (e))
Applications Review
During competitive years, applications are reviewed by Texas Education
Agency staff and external reviewers, as appropriate, for programmatic
as well as fiscal criteria required by state and federal guidelines. If
two or more applicants are competing for funds allocated to the same
geographic area, external reviewers will include at least one representative
from each category of applicants who are competing and may include
representatives from other agencies with an interest in the federal
adult education and literacy program. Competitive applications
are ranked in descending order from highest average total score received. An
application is not approved until all requirements are addressed satisfactorily.
Applications must achieve an overall criterion score of at least 70
to be considered for funding. More than one applicant may be
funded in each region based on funds available provided adequate coordination
procedures are employed to avoid duplication of services and wasted
resources. Special emphasis is placed in the review process to
ensure that applicants place priority on recruiting and serving educationally
disadvantaged adults.
As required by AEFLA, in awarding grants under this section,
the Texas Education Agency shall consider the following required criteria
in the review of applications:
(1) The degree to which the eligible provider will establish measurable
goals.
(2) The past effectiveness of an eligible provider in improving
the literacy skills of adults and families, and, in meeting or exceeding
such performance measures, especially with regard to those adults
with lower levels of literacy.
(3) The commitment of the eligible provider to serve individuals
in the community who are most in need of literacy services, including
individuals who are low- income or have minimal literacy skills.
(4)Whether or not the program is of sufficient intensity and duration
for participants to achieve
substantial learning gains; and uses instructional practices, such
as phonemic awareness,
systematic phonics, fluency, and reading comprehension that research
has proven to be effective in teaching individuals to read.
(5) Whether the activities are built on a strong foundation of
research and effective educational practice.
(6) Whether the activities effectively employ advances in technology,
as appropriate, including the use of computers.
(7) Whether the activities provide learning in real life contexts
to ensure that an individual has the skills needed to compete in
the workplace and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
(8) Whether the activities are staffed by well-trained instructors,
counselors, and administrators.
(9) Whether the eligible provider coordinates with other available
resources in the community, such as establishing strong links with
elementary schools and secondary schools, postsecondary educational
institutions, one-stop centers, job training programs, and social
service agencies.
(10) Whether the eligible provider offers flexible schedules
and support services (such as child care and transportation) that
are necessary to enable individuals, including individuals with disabilities
or other special needs, to attend and complete programs.
(11) Whether the eligible provider maintains a high-quality information
management system that has the capacity to report participant outcomes
and to monitor program performance against the eligible agency performance
measures.
(12) Whether the local communities have a demonstrated need for
additional English literacy programs (Sec. 231) (e).
6.6 Special Rule (Sec.
223 (c))
State Board of Education rules address staff qualifications and training,
program elements, program evaluation, tuition and fees, delivery system,
advisory committee, allocation of funds, consortia, fiscal agent responsibilities,
and high school diploma programs. SBOE rules appear in Appendix
J.
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