District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Report on Grants Approved by Commissioner; Continuing Authorization to Commissioner to Approve Grants

At the Board's June 25, 2008 meeting and again at our meeting on September 10, 2008, the Board authorized me to approve state and federal grants up to the date of the next regular Board meeting. I reported to you in September on the grants that I approved over the summer: 272 grants totaling $19.7 million under 30 different state and federal competitive grant programs.

Since your September 10th authorization to me, I met with Department staff and approved funding for 67 After-School and Out-of-School Time proposals (out of 217 that we received), for a total of $5.4 million in state funds. We notified the grantees but have not yet issued official award letters. In the past week, the Department has been asked to make 9C cuts in most of our state budget line items, including the After-School and Out-of-School Time grant program. Therefore, we are currently making adjustments to these tentative grant awards. I will provide you the list of approved grant amounts once we have made the award adjustments.

The Board asked that I bring to your October meeting a motion delegating authority to the commissioner indefinitely to approve state and federal grants on the Board's behalf and to report such approvals to the Board on a periodic basis. One key reason for granting the commissioner this authority is to allow decisions to be made and conveyed to grant applicants on a timely basis so that program activities can get underway more quickly. This allows us to be responsive to our constituents, including the students who benefit from these programs. Second, the Board's approval of competitive grants comes at the conclusion of a through and documented review process by Department staff, the associate commissioner who is responsible for overseeing the program, and the commissioner. Board approval for grants has been routine. Delegating the final approval to the commissioner assists the Board in clearing its agenda of routine votes in order to focus on matters of educational policy, and is consistent with state law. Third, as a practical matter, the Board's traditional authorization to the commissioner in June of each year covers the vast majority of the state and federal competitive grants that we award in the course of the year. For all of FY08, these grants totaled $23.8 million. As noted above, the FY09 grant awards that I approved over the summer totaled $19.7 million.

To provide some context regarding our state and federal competitive grant funds, I thought it would be helpful to present data regarding some of the major sources of funding that the Department administers. Most of the funding that flows through the Department is entitlement or formula-based funding, not competitive grants. The following figures are from FY08:

• The Board (or the commissioner, with authorization by the Board) approved 619 competitive grants, including funding increases to previously approved grants, totaling $23,831,402 from 47 state and federal grant programs.

• The Department distributed the following funds on a formula or continuation basis, not requiring Board approval. This is not an exhaustive list, but does highlight the major categories of state and federal funds that the Department distributes via grants, contracts, or other mechanisms.

  State (rounded)
  Chapter 70:	$3,725,000,000
  Circuit Breaker:	$220,000,000
  Charter School Tuition Reimbursement:	$73,800,000
  Regional Transportation:	$58,300,000
  School Breakfast/Lunch (state match for federal):	$8,500,000
  Federal (rounded)
  Special Education:	$237,000,000
  Title I (academic support):	$217,000,000
  Title IIA (educator quality):	$48,000,000
  School Breakfast/Lunch:	$153,000,000

  
  

Competitive grants are a very small portion of the state and federal funding that we administer. This is not to diminish the importance of competitive grant funding. Often, this funding allows us to support innovation, promote state education goals, and prioritize funds for high need schools and districts, although we are constrained by the state or federal budget language on how the competitive funds may be used.

For these reasons, I recommend that the Board vote this month to delegate authority to the commissioner indefinitely to approve state and federal grants on the Board's behalf and to report such approvals to the Board on a periodic basis. The Board has explicit authority to delegate such function under G.L. c. 15, § 1F ("The board may delegate its authority or any portion thereof to the commissioner whenever in its judgment such delegation may be necessary or desirable. The commissioner shall exercise such delegated powers and duties with full authority of the board.") I have enclosed a motion for your consideration.

Enclosure: