Special Education

ALERT! IMPORTANT GRANT NOTICE FOR FY09: Fund Code 240 – Special Education Entitlement

Starting with the special education entitlement grant (fund code 240) for the current school year (grant period 9/1/08-8/31/09), and continuing forward from this date, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) will allow districts to extend federal special education entitlement grant spending through a two year grant period. Authority for this action is received through the federal Tydings Amendment. The Tydings Amendment allows grantees to spend funds for a full 27 months, and because districts are required subgrantees, the ESE will provide subgrantees with this extended two year period. The original project duration for the FY09 Fund Code 240 grant runs from September 1, 2008 – August 31, 2009. School districts continue to be expected to expend the full amount of their grant award during this period. However, if a school district does not expend all of its funds, it is now possible to carry over the remaining funds for an additional grant year (in this case, the grant period will be extended to 8/31/10). The expectation remains that school districts will make every attempt to expend the full amount of their grant award in the initial grant period in which it is received. ESE does not recommend that districts regularly choose to exercise this new option, as a new award will be available each year. If districts do extend their spending to a second year, it will be important to expend the funds early in the second year in order to ensure full liquidation of the funds. If your school district anticipates that it will not be able to expend all Fund Code 240 funds by the end of the grant period (August 31, 2009), you must amend down your grant total by the amount that will not be expended. These amendments must be received by the ESE by no later than May 8, 2009, in order to be readily available by the district in the next fiscal year. The ESE will provide direction soon on applying for these carryover funds to ensure their availability as of September 1, 2009. Please note: This deadline does not affect line item amendments, which will continue to be acceptable up to, but not including, the last 30 days of the grant. If you do not amend your FY09 fund code 240 grant total by May 8 and do not expend all of your FY09 entitlement funds, your district will return all unexpended funds with your completed Final Financial Report (FR-1) for FY09. This will delay access to these carryover funds. However, if your FR-1 is completed in a timely manner, the ESE will work to reissue the returned funds to you by the end of the calendar year. If you have any questions, please contact our grants staff in the Special Education Planning and Policy Development unit at 781-338-3375.

Last Updated: April 21, 2009