Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2025: Targeted Assistance Grant (TAG)

Fund Codes: 0222/0325

Purpose:

The Center for School and District Partnership (CSDP) designed this targeted grant program is to support the implementation of needs identified in the district prioritization or similar process used to determine the district's highest priority for improvement. The activities the district selects will promote educational equity by providing supports that align with DESE's Educational Vision . For further guidance, many of our center's existing resources have been consolidated and updated into the Coherence Guidebook which is available to support schools and districts in their improvement efforts.

Districts will select activities that:

connect with the priority already identified in the district prioritization submission or similar process to identify improvement priorities;
incorporate evidence-based strategies;
advance equity and racial equity across schools
utilize a continuous cycle of improvement to implement and assess the outcomes of identified district priorities over time

This grant supports Massachusetts' goals for increasing student achievement by expanding school districts' capacity to support and educate students who have traditionally been marginalized.

Priorities:

Targeted Assistance Grant (TAG) funds are expected to support the development and implementation of district identified priorities. Examples of identified priorities that TAG funds can support are:

Cultivating systems to support the whole student
Promotion of Deeper Learning
Develop and sustain a diverse, culturally responsive well-prepared workforce

The TAG Grant Narrative and Fund Use Recommendations attachments provide additional details about the activities being supported by the grant.

Note: Recipients of TAG funding should expect to engage in assistance activities with Department staff from the Center for School and District Partnership (CSDP) and the Statewide System of Support (SSoS), and in DESE-sponsored progress monitoring efforts.

Eligibility:

District-Level Eligibility: Districts with one or more eligible schools will receive a TAG allocation. Eligible schools are those identified under the 2023 Massachusetts District and School Accountability System as in the bottom 10 percentiles, have a federal designation, or are identified as underperforming and supported by the Center for School and District Partnership (CSDP).

Districts can use TAG funds to support all schools, however, as per state and federal funding requirements, schools that meet the criteria above should directly benefit from TAG funding. A list of these schools is provided for context in the district allocation document in the Additional Information section of this RFP. Note that when 2024 accountability designations are available in the fall of 2024, districts will have the opportunity to revisit the distribution of TAG funds in consideration of newly eligible schools and file an amendment if necessary. District may be eligible to receive additional funding if additional schools are identified.

The following schools are not eligible for TAG as they are eligible for other grant funding:

Schools in the Strategic Transformation region
Charter schools and virtual schools

Funding Type:

Funding for the grant will come from federal and state funds:

Fund Code 325: Federal Title I Section 1003 School Improvement Reservation funds CFDA 84.010

Federal grant funds must adhere to:

UGG (2 CFR 200)
EDGAR As Applicable
EDGAR General Fiscal Administration 34 CFR Part 76

Fund Code 222: State Targeted Assistance Line Item 7061-9408

Funding:

Approximately $4,500,000 is available, with approximately $3,475,000 available through Federal Title I School Improvement funds (fund code 325), and approximately $1,025,000 through State Targeted Assistance funds (fund code 222) to be distributed among the eligible districts.

The Department will list on this grant posting, on a rolling basis, any additional schools and/or districts and their designated grant allocations and application due dates as they are determined, and as new needs emerge, and funds become available.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding is to become available, it will be distributed under the same guidelines as listed in the initial RFP document.

Funding to individual districts will be approved only after programmatic and budgetary reviews by Department staff as noted above and upon review by the Office of the Governor.

Fund Use:

Allowable expenditures include district and school costs associated with:

the implementation of key strategies described in the district prioritization submission
the selection, training, implementation, and monitoring involved with delivering high-quality instructional materials to all students
the social-emotional learning and mental health needs of students
building capacity of instructional leadership teams
advancing equity, including racial equity across schools
strategic planning at the school and district level
the promotion of a sense of belonging
implementation of grade-appropriate instruction
strategic planning and coherence

See the Fund Use Recommendations for Targeted Assistance Grants attachment in the Additional Information portion of this RFP for detailed examples of appropriate use of funds.

Unallowable Expenditures include:

Costs that supplant¹ district allocations and expenditures to the school
Out of state travel
Contract buyouts
Capital expenses
Food or beverages
Pre-existing student transportation costs
Personal protective equipment

Fund use must be consistent with applicable state and/or federal requirements.

Funding used for such grants will conform to federal Title I Section 1003 School Improvement State Reservation requirements and/or to State Targeted Assistance funding requirements.

All expenditures will be closely reviewed as they relate to the priorities of this grant opportunity.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval – 6/30/2025

*Note: The pandemic era accommodation of moving funds to the summer will no longer apply. Please ensure funds are expended by 6/30/2025.

Important note regarding both state and federal grants: The start date for the grant is the date on which the district submits a substantially approvable budget and narrative to DESE, no earlier than July 1, 2025.

Program Unit:

Office of Effective Practices, Center for School and District Partnership

Contact:

School Turnaround Specialist
Michael Seymour

(781) 338-3514

Date Due:

Monday September 30, 2024 5:00 pm Eastern

Proposals with all the required attachments must be submitted in GEM$ before 5:00 p.m. on Monday September 30, 2024. Applicants that submit earlier can have an earlier start date (no earlier than 7/1/2024).

Additional Information:

FY25 TAG Narrative: the narrative document will be uploaded into GEM$

Targeted Assistance Grants: District Amounts (list of eligible districts, total district grant allotments by funding source, and schools eligible)

Fund Use Recommendations for Targeted Assistance Grants

Submission Instructions:

Submit all required grant materials through the Grants for Education Management System (GEM$). GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Please Note: Grant Submission requires applicants to have their organization established in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization in GEM$ must contact the DESE Program Unit issuing this grant at a minimum 5 business days prior to the due date for temporary organization access.

Failure to provide DESE with GEMS Request Form at least 5 business days prior to the due date may result in not meeting the submission due date listed above. DESE cannot accept or review applications after the due date.

¹ Refer to "Supplement, Not Supplant Quick Reference Guide" at General Resources for Federal Grant Programs

Last Updated: June 11, 2024