FY2024: Targeted Assistance Grant (TAG)

Fund Codes: 222/325

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. More information on this year's progress monitoring expectations will be forthcoming.

Eligibility:

District-Level Eligibility: Districts with one or more eligible schools will receive a TAG allocation. Eligible schools are those identified under the 2022 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 2023 accountability designations are available in the fall of 2023, 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.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

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:

1. the implementation of key strategies described in the district prioritization submission
2. the selection, training, implementation, and monitoring involved with delivering high-quality instructional materials to all students
3. the social-emotional learning and mental health needs of students
4. building capacity of instructional leadership teams
5. advancing equity, including racial equity across schools
6. strategic planning at the school and district level
7. the promotion of a sense of belonging
8. implementation of grade-appropriate instruction
9. 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** – 6/30/2024*

*Note: DESE will allow applicants to reapply for unspent balances in FY25 (summer of 2024). To utilize this extension, grantees will need to reduce FY23 grant funds down in the spring to what will be expended through June 30, 2024. Once the FY25 funding opportunity is active, districts will be notified to enter in a grant for the balance. The project duration of those grants funds will be 7/1/2024 – 8/31/2024.

*Note: Should this grant be incorporated into DESE's new grants management system, the end dates may be subject to change.

** Grant start date cannot be prior to DESE receiving a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and Services cannot be procured prior to Grants receiving and approving an application submission. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.

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.

Program Unit:

Office of Effective Practices, Center for School and District Partnership

Contact:

School Turnaround Specialist
Michael Seymour

Phone Number:

(781) 338-3514

Date Due:

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Proposals with all the required attachments must be uploaded to EdGrants before 5:00 p.m. on the due date. Districts will have access to the funds upon submitting an approvable application. Those that submit earlier, will have access to TAG funds earlier.

Required Forms:

• Budget Workbook
  • Part I Signed Cover Page: The district will submit a PDF of the Signature Page of the FY23 Budget Workbook as an attachment in EdGrants. The PDF must include a signature from the authorized signatory for the district.
    • FY2024 Part I Cover Page
    • FY2025 Part I Cover Page: only required if planning to obligate funds 7/1/2024 – 8/31/2024.
  • FY2024 Budget — both 222 and 325 will be entered directly into EdGrants as part of the application submission process.
  • FY2025 Summer Budget: only required if planning to obligate funds 7/1/2024 – 8/31/2024.
  
  

• Part III — Targeted Assistance Grant Narrative

Additional Information:

• 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 EdGrants.

Districts are required to create and name the project in EdGrants. Please use the following naming convention for your "Applicant Project Name" in EdGrants:

• FY24 222 TAG (Applicant Name) or
• FY24 325 TAG (Applicant Name)

All items listed under the required forms section of this RFP should be uploaded / attached in the Attachments List formlet in EdGrants. This includes a signed / scanned PDF of Part I / Coversheet with Superintendent's signature as well as the Part III Targeted Assistance Grant Narrative. The final budget the applicant is requesting will be entered directly into EdGrants as part of the application submission process.

For guidance regarding EdGrants, visit EdGrants: User Guides, Information and Trainings.

Please note: It is up to the district to determine who they want to add as EdGrants Front Office users in order to submit grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

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

Last Updated: October 25, 2023