The instructions provided here are designed to assist LEAs in the completion of the New Hampshire Department of Education on-line application for Title IV-A. To expedite the review and approval of your grant application, please follow the instructions carefully. If additional technical assistance is needed please contact: Stan Freeda (603.271.5132; Stanley.Freeda@doe.nh.gov).
For those needing more information regarding the Online Grants Management System, consult the NHDOE Online Grants Management System Handbook.
Steps in the Process
Confirm that the General Assurances have been submitted to the NH DOE. Note: These are not the same documents as Program Assurances, which serve as a "contract" for a specific program. If you are not sure if your LEA has submitted General Assurances to the NH DOE, please contact your SAU office for confirmation.
Sign on to: MYNHDOE website.
Select Title IV, A SSAE and the appropriate year from the application drop-down menu.
Complete the general identification information section.
Sign and Upload the Title IV-A Program Assurances to the grant in the Online Grants Management System.
We have streamlined all of the Federal formula grant assurances into one document. At the same time, each Federal source (Title I, Part A; Title II, Part A; Title III, Part A; IDEA and Perkins) has a separate signature page as some districts do not participate in/receive a particular funding source (i.e. not all districts receive Perkins funds). Please read the cover memo very carefully as it includes important information.
Superintendents/Charter School Administrators will have access to an attachment feature on their district page of the Grants Management System. The signed assurances (as a complete document) must be uploaded there for NH DOE staff to review as they are going through your various applications for funds.
You do not need to sign any program assurance that you will not be participating in or receiving funds for in that particular school year.
Once NH DOE completes its allocation process for all Federal formula grants, the grant amounts will be uploaded into GMS as they are ready. We hope that will help in your planning efforts. Please remember that expenditures for approved grants for a particular school year cannot begin before July 1 of that year.
Individual program staff at the NH DOE sent your leaders that oversee federal fund programs (CTE Directors, Special Education Directors, Title Administrators, ESOL Directors) the information and application/requirement information as well. This includes, but is not limited to: information for the application process itself, equitable services documents, the IDEA excess cost tool and MOE calculator, etc.
You can download copies of the various documents you might need from the Title IV-A Documents Folder, available in this Toolkit.
If necessary, Sign and Upload the Title IV-A Equitable Services form, if needed to the grant in the Online Grants Management System. You can download a copy of the Title IV-A Equitable Services form available in the Equitable Serivces Folder in the Documents Folder.
The Activity ID is generated by the system—no entry is necessary.
Select a Category from the Category Drop Down Box:
- Effective Use of Technology
- Safe and Healthy Students
- Well Rounded Education
- Indirect Costs
- Admin/Support (limit 2%) - should have a function code in the 2000 series.
- Transfer Reap/Flex (Must be in the same grant year)*
Review the Annotated Template - Title IV-A Student Support Activity Developer document, in the Examples of Activities folder in the Documents for LEAs folder to get an idea of the questions each section of the activity narrative should adress and why the information is important to planning a successful activity that will impact your students and provide support for their success.
Complete this Section: Priority to be Addressed.
LEAs must articulate what priority they are addressing with the activity proposed. Priorities are identified by a formal needs assessment process (required for grants over $30,000.00) or from a locally determined needs assessment process. State how you determined the need. State what activity you feel will meet that need, the desired or intended outcome.
- Example: Grant Under $30,000: Based on a 2018 student survey that revealed a need to improve school culture and climate, our LEA's priority is to support an anti-bullying campaign.
- Example: Grant $30,000 or above: Based on an internal audit using the Future Ready Framework and supplemented by anecdotal community feedback, our LEA's priority is to provide greater academic enrichment opportunities for all students during and after school.
Complete this Section: Activities
In this text box, indicate the activity(ies) to be carried out which support the priority identified above. Avoid acronyms. The activity MUST connect to the priority need identified, and must accomplish the stated desired outcome. Put in as much detail as you can to fully describe the activity as it relates to the desired outcome that will meet your demonstrated need.Activities should be programs, whether large or small, that are developed to provide the supplemental support for students that was identified in the Priority section. Activities should be developed with intended results that are measurable objectives.
Complete this Section: Performance Measurement
A performance measurement is a tool that can be used to collect data on a particular objective. In this section, indicate the evidence or data to be collected to determine effectiveness of implementation. Evidence may include data associated with office referrals, absenteeism, and program participation to student-parental-teacher-community feedback or actual student products and performances. Evidence must relate to activities (how to produce the desired outcome) and priority (the need that will be solved by the intended outcome). This section should describe the data you will collect and the methods you will use to evaluate your activity's effectiveness at producing your outcomes.
Complete this Section: Outcome
An outcome is the desired or intended result, indicated by data that have been collected by one or more performance measurement tools. Indicate an anticipated or desired outcome, that will meet your need, to ensure that the activity follows suggestions of best practice: Identified need > Intended outcome that addresses need > measurement and data to collect for effectiveness > activity that will support the outcome>. The outcome section should report what measurable objectives you hope to achieve at the end of the project. The evaluation should be designed to measure the objectives included in this section.
Fill out Budget Information as directed. Use the dropdown lists for the proper function and object codes and key in the amount for each line item. The entries will be locked in when the NHDOE approves the application. Once a line item is created, you cannot delete it; this history is maintained for audit purposes. You can, however, edit the line item by zeroing or reducing the amount and creating a new line item to meet your needs.
Note: There are activity templates that provide guided questions for each section of the grant activity available in the Examples of Activities folder in the Documents for LEAs folder.
Flexing Your Title IV-A Funds
*Transfer: Section 5103(b) of ESSA allows an LEA to transfer up to 100 percent of funds awarded from two program areas: Title II, Part A and Title IV, Part A to several program areas:
Title I, Part A Improving basic programs operated by LEAs;
Title I, Part C Education of migratory children;
Title I, Part D Prevention and intervention programs for children and youth who are neglected, delinquent, or at-risk;
Title II, Part A Supporting effective instruction state grants;
Title III, Part A State grants for English language acquisition and language enhancement;
Title IV, Part A Student Support and Academic Enrichment; and
Title V, Part B Rural education
Note: Funds transferred into another title program must support allowable activities for the program into which the funds were transferred.You can learn more about these programs on the Office of ESEA Title Programs page on the NHDOE website.
While flexing funds into and out of programs is allowable, it is important to note the following requirementss:
- Review of the District needs assessment.Review of the District needs assessment. While the LEA has the authority to transfer funding, it
doesn't mean that they should. Decisions regarding the transfer of funding should be made in
conjunction with needs outlined in the needs assessment. Keeping in line with the needs and goals
outlined in this assessment is the best way to determine whether transferring funds is the correct course
of action.
- Consult with the appropriate stakeholders.Consult with the appropriate stakeholders. All federal programs require meaningful consultation with
stakeholders, which should include (but is not limited to), families, community members and educators
that represent all faculty and staff.
- Consult with participating private schools. The equitable share provided to participating private
schools is impacted when the Districts transfer funds. The District needs assessment must be shared with
the private schools during meaningful and timely consultation regarding the services for which they will
and will not be eligible due to a transfer of funds. Due to this requirement, any transfer of funds should
be done timely (beginning of a grant) to minimize the impact of equitable share calculations throughout
the grant period.
Flexing into or out of the Title IV-A Program is pretty simple. Iti s all in the Grants Management System, no additional forms are necessary. Your Stakeholder Team should determine, after assessing student needs, that funds are best used to support other program focal areas, rather than student support or academic enrichment.
Guidelines on handling a Flex/Transfer activity:
- Transfers must be within the same grant year ensuring the period of performance is the same for each program.
- The transferring grant must have an activity with a budget that includes the following:
a. A reference to the recipient grant activity number,
b. A notification date (date of activity submission),
c. An effective date (at least 30 days after the notification date),
d. A budget line that is consistent with the grant parameters of the recipient grant,
e. The category for the transferring activity should be "Transfer/REAP Flex".
- The receiving grant must have an activity with any required outcomes that includes the following:
a. No budget line,
b. A reference to the transferring grant activity number,
c. A notification date (date of activity submission),
d. An effective date (at least 30 days after the notification date),
e. The category should be the most appropriate category for that grant and not "Transfer/REAP Flex".
- Each activity shall not include other items.
- The transferring grant and receiving grant activities should agree.
- If both grants are paying a portion of the activity, the recipient grant should have two activities; one for the transfer (without a budget) and another for the portion being paid by the recipient grant (with a
budget).
- Activities that do not meet the above minimum requirements will not be approved.
The full transferability guidance document from NHED is available in the Training Materials Subfolder.
Flexing FROM Title IV-A to Title II-A (or other Title Program)
In the Title IV-A grant:
1 Add an activity. Choose Flex/Transfer as the category. The Flex cateogry is for outgoing funds only.
2. Enter your grant information, including the budget section.
3. In the Activities Section, on top, add a sentence that says you are transferring the funds to Title II-A, Activity #XXXXXX (include the other grant activity number).
In the Title II-A grant:
1. Add an activity. Choose the appropriate program category for the activity.
2.Enter your activity information into the grant, do not include the budget section.
3. In the Activities Section, on top, add a sentence that says you are transferring the funds from Title IV-A, Activity #XXXXXX (include the Title IV-A grant activity number).
Title IV-A will approve the transfer.
Title II-A will approve the activity.
You will report spending for the transferred activity through the Title IV-A grant reporting process.
Flexing INTO Title IV-A from Title II-A (or other Title Program)
The same process as above, just reverse the programs. Include the budget in the Title II-A (or other Title Program) activity and not in the Title IV-A activity. Cross referencing of activity numbers works just as above.
