Consolidated Grant Applications and their Effects on Federal Fiscal Compliance Reviews

Cindy Watson

A consolidated grant application combines related grants into one large grant application. This allows for the sharing and combining of information to produce one contract document, one grant agreement, and one set of appendices that apply to all the related grants. A consolidated grant also simplifies the review and tracking processes.

ESSA Consolidated Federal Grant Application combines the following grants:

Title I, Part A – provides supplemental resources to help schools with high concentrations of students from low-income families acquire the knowledge and skills in the state content standards and to meet the state student performance standards.
Title I, Part C – provides supplemental instructional and support services for migrant students and out of school migrant youth.
Title I, Part D, Subpart 1 – provides supplemental services to children in state facilities for neglected or delinquent children to acquire the knowledge and skills in the state content standards and state student performance standards.
Title I, Part D, Subpart 2 – supports programs to improve the educational services to children residing in facilities for delinquent children to acquire the knowledge and skills in the state content standards and state student performance standards.
Title II, Part A – increases student achievement through improving teacher and principal quality and increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in classrooms and highly qualified principals in schools.
Title III, Part A ELA – develops programs for limited English proficient students to attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment, and meet the state content standards and student achievement standards.
Title III, Part A Immigrant – develops programs for immigrant children to attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment, and meet the state content standards and student achievement standards.
Title IV, Part A – SSAEP – improves students’ academic achievement by providing all students with access to a well-rounded education; improve school conditions for student learning; and improve the use of technology.

Special Education Consolidated Grant Application (Federal) combines the following grants:

IDEA-B Formula and IDEA-B Formula-ARP – provide supplemental resources to help LEAs ensure that eligible students (ages 3-21) with disabilities are provided with a free appropriate public education as required by federal statute.
IDEA-B Preschool and IDEA-B Preschool-ARP – provides supplemental resources to help LEAs ensure that eligible students (ages 3-5) with disabilities are provided with a free appropriate public education as required by federal statute.
IDEA-B Discretionary Deaf – helps ensure that eligible students with disabilities (ages 3-21) are provided with a free appropriate public education as required by federal statute.

Knowledge is Power! We believe that knowing how, and which parts of, your consolidated grant applications affect your compliance reviews Empowers your LEA. Ensuring these items are correct within the grant applications ensures that there are no data discrepancies during the various compliance reviews; thus, relieving some of the “heat” from the compliance requirements. To help understand how the consolidated grants affect the compliance reviews, below are the connections the LEA should be aware of to ensure that they are correct.

Current AskTed Information

An LEA’s campus information as reported within AskTed populates the LEA’s campus information within the consolidated grants. Having current campus information such as active/inactive, grades taught (ie. K-5), as well as other information prevents issues and questions during TEA’s compliance review processes and as well as prevents a possible future grant amendment.

IDEA-B Excess Costs

The 2022-2023 Special Education Consolidated Grant Application (Federal) requires that LEA assure that the excess cost calculation will be performed as soon as possible after final expenditures have been reported for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. During the 2021-2022, Excess costs were not randomly validated by TEA. However, to ensure the requirement is met, it is advised that LEAs perform the calculation as soon as final expenditures have been reported.

Schedules within the Consolidated Grants

Because much of the data that appears within the grant application schedules are prepopulated, be sure to review the information in each schedule for accuracy and ensure the information is current. The following schedules have implications for compliance reviews:

Schedule BS6016 of the Special Education Consolidated Grant Application is subject each year to random validations by TEA. It is advised that LEAs ensure the accuracy of the information and keep supporting documentation on file in the event of an audit or random validation.
Schedule SC5000 of the ESSA Consolidated Federal Grant Application is utilized for comparison data by TEA when validating campuses and grade spans during their review of the Title I, Part A Comparability of Services requirement. It is advised that LEAs review this schedule carefully ensuring that the information is as accurate as possible.

LEA’s Option for MOE Voluntary Reduction

Schedule BS6016 of the Special Education Consolidated Grant Application, Section B. MOE Voluntary Reduction (Adjustment to Local Fiscal Efforts), allows an LEA the option to voluntarily reduce their Maintenance Of Effort (MOE) for 2022-2023 if the LEA’s state Determination Level is “Meets Requirements”, the LEA has not been identified as having “significant disproportionality”, and the LEA’s federal IDEA-B allocation for the current year is greater than the allocation for the preceding year. Go ahead and select this option even if you aren’t sure if your LEA qualifies – because if your LEA does qualify, it is a great exception to claim. However, to claim the exception, the LEA would have had to select the option.

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