Grants and Other Financial Assistance Programs

FY2025: Perkins Program Improvement & Equipment Grant

Fund Code: 0422

Purpose:

The purpose of this competitive grant is to provide program improvement resources to districts eligible for Federal Perkins funds in FY2023. This grant is for expenses through 9/30/24 and grantees will have another 60 days to claim final payment.

Priorities:

This grant must be used to provide resources for Perkins program improvement to Secondary and Postsecondary Perkins Recipients. Expenditures, including equipment, must align with Perkins allowable cost requirements and drive program improvement. All expenses should be aligned to recipient Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment.

Eligibility:

Eligible Secondary Recipients

Eligible Postsecondary Recipients

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 84.048

Federal grant funds must adhere to:

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

Funding:

An approximate total amount of $1,200,000 is available to eligible applicants.

This grant will prioritize at least 25% of available funds available for schools and districts in chronically underperforming status. If applications are not received from schools in status, funds will be distributed to other applicants.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

Funding is contingent upon availability. Eligible organizations can apply for up to the amount listed here. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Funds may be used for services, supplies, equipment, curriculum development and program improvement and delivery expenses. Funds must be used to ensure program quality and build capacity to serve students in CTE programs, aligned to Perkins Allowable Expenses.

Additional General Grant coding Guidance is available.

Project Duration:

Upon Approval – 9/30/2024

Program Unit:

Office of College, Career, and Technical Education

Contact:

Nicole Smith

Date Due:

Friday June 28, 2024

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due.

All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity.

Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date listed in the RFP.

Additional Information:

Interdepartmental Service Agreements (ISAs)

Interdepartmental Service Agreements (ISAs) are contract documents required when Commonwealth Department awards grant funding to another Commonwealth Department (Community Colleges and County Sherriff Departments and MA state agencies).

To ensure allowable fund use, the grantee must obtain approval by the program office. All grants must be submitted in the grants system, including proposed budget line items, prior to the Grants Management office beginning the ISA process with the entity receiving the grant funds. EdGrants requires a crosswalk submission to generate the ISA. GEM$ grants include an ISA crosswalk tab in the application.

Any revisions that impact the object classes would trigger a revised ISA based on the new crosswalk. Once completed ISAs are signed by the applicant and by DESE, the grant will be processed through the DESE fiscal approved step. Keep this workflow in mind and please always respond timely with signed ISAs so we can process your grant and/or revision.

Submission Instructions:

The 0422 Perkins Program Improvement & Equipment Grant will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)

The Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved Step allows for the organization lead to review and approve the grant application. Removing the requirement for the Part I Standard Contract Form, this step signifies Superintendent /Chief Executive sign off. Any grant budget changes requiring signature, will re-execute this step when amended signifying the organization lead is approving these changes.

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

Failure to provide DESE with GEM$ Temp Organization Access Request 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.

Please Note: Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All these roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: June 6, 2024