Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services.
Notice.
Overview Information; Race to the Top—Early Learning Challenge; Phase 2 Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012.
Applications Available: September 20, 2012.
Date of Pre-Application Meeting: September 25, 2012. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: October 26, 2012.
The FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition identified five key reform areas representing the foundation of an effective early learning and development reform agenda that is focused on school readiness and ongoing educational success. These areas, which provided a framework for the competition's priorities, requirements, and selection criteria, are:
(A) Successful State Systems;
(B) High-Quality, Accountable Programs;
(C) Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes for Children;
(D) A Great Early Childhood Education Workforce; and
(E) Measuring Outcomes and Progress.
The first two of these reform areas, (A) and (B), are core areas of focus for this program (hereafter “Core Areas”), and applicants under the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition were required to respond to all selection criteria under these Core Areas. The reform areas in (C), (D), and (E) are areas (hereafter “Focused Investment Areas”) where applicants directed targeted attention to specific activities that were relevant to their State's context. Applicants were required to address each Focused Investment Area but not all of the selection criteria under them.
In December 2011, the Departments made awards to the nine highest scoring applications from the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington.
On December 23, 2011, the President signed into law Public Law 112–74, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012, which made $550 million available for the Race to the Top Fund. This legislation authorized the Secretary of Education to make Race to the Top Fund awards on “the basis of previously submitted applications.” The Department of Education must obligate these funds by December 31, 2012.
On April 9, 2012, the Departments announced that approximately $133 million of the $550 million appropriated for the Race to the Top Fund would be made available to the next five highest scoring applicants from the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition. These five applicants, each of which received approximately 75 percent or more of the available points under the competition, are Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin. These States are referred to as “eligible applicants” for Phase 2 of the RTT–ELC program, under which the Departments will fund down
While $133 million can support only a selection of the activities in the plans submitted by these States in the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition, the Secretaries believe that supporting with FY 2012 funding high-scoring applicants that did not receive funding under the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition will help build on the momentum from the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition and engage more States in transforming the patchwork of disconnected early childhood programs into a coordinated and high-quality system. Therefore, we will make FY 2012 funds available to the eligible applicants at up to 50 percent of the amount each requested in its application under the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition.
The Department of Education may use any unused funds from Phase 2 of the RTT–ELC program to make awards in the FY 2012 Race to the Top District competition, which was announced in a separate notice published in the
Except where otherwise indicated in this notice inviting applications or in the notice of final requirements for the RTT–ELC Phase 2 competition, published elsewhere in this issue of the
(a) An application, consistent with its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application, that—
(1) Meets the application requirements described in the
(2) Provides the assurances described in the
(b) For review and approval by both Departments, a detailed plan and budget describing the activities selected from its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application that would be implemented with Phase 2 RTT–ELC funding, in accordance with the
We encourage eligible applicants to partner with each other and currently funded RTT–ELC grantees in carrying out specific activities (such as validation of a State's Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System (TQRIS), implementation of longitudinal data systems, or development of a kindergarten entry assessment). Each eligible applicant may apply for Phase 2 RTT–ELC awards individually or as a member of a consortium (with other eligible applicants) under 34 CFR 75.127–129. A consortium can be formed only with other eligible applicants and requires a single application. A partnership can be described in the application of an individual State or a consortium and can include eligible applicants as well as currently-funded grantees. In any event, an eligible applicant must propose activities for Phase 2 of the RTT–ELC program that are consistent with its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application.
(a) Each eligible applicant must describe how it would implement an organizational structure for managing the Phase 2 RTT–ELC grant that is consistent with the activities and commitments described in response to selection criterion A(3)(a)(1)
(b) In addition to addressing the requirements in paragraph (a) of this section, each eligible applicant must select and describe how it will implement activities that it identified in its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application in response to Focused Investment Areas C, D, or E. The eligible applicant must select activities from two or more of the three Focused Investment Areas C, D, and E, and the activities must be responsive to one or more of the selection criteria under the Focused Investment Areas chosen by the applicant. (Eligible applicants may implement additional activities proposed under more than one selection criterion within each Focused Investment Area.) In determining which selection criteria to address given the amount of available funds under Phase 2 of the RTT–ELC program, each eligible applicant must give consideration to those activities that will have the greatest impact on improving access to high-quality early learning programs for children with high needs.
In light of the reduced funding available, applicants may make adjustments in the scope of services provided to meet selection criteria in Core Area A(3)(a)(1), Core Area B, Competitive Preference Priority 2, and Focused Investment Areas C, D, and E. For example, an applicant may propose to serve fewer programs or regions of the State than it proposed to serve in its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application. The eligible applicant must provide a detailed explanation of its rationale for such adjustments and also must amend its targets in Tables B(2)(c) and B(4)(c)(1–2) of the FY 2011 RTT–ELC application, as needed. The adjustments may not diminish the program's impact on improving access to high-quality early learning programs for children with high needs. In addition, if the scope of work is adjusted by targeting specific regions in the State, the activities must be consistent across regions. In making these adjustments, the Departments strongly encourage eligible applicants to consider how to use other appropriate Federal, State, private, and local resources to support their selected activities.
(c) In addition, each eligible applicant may implement the activities it proposed in response to the Invitational Priorities from its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application. Eligible applicants that wrote to Invitational Priority 2 are encouraged to enter into public-private partnerships if doing so would augment
(d) The Departments will use Phase 2 RTT–ELC funding to support only those activities included in an eligible applicant's FY 2011 RTT–ELC application. Therefore, an eligible applicant must not include new activities in its Phase 2 RTT–ELC application.
(e) Each Phase 2 RTT–ELC application must include current signatures by the eligible applicant's Governor or an authorized representative signing on behalf of the Governor; an authorized representative from the eligible applicant's Lead Agency; and an authorized representative from each Participating State Agency.
(f) Each Phase 2 RTT–ELC application must include a newly-signed Memorandum of Understanding and a preliminary scope of work for each Participating State Agency.
(a) While the State may make appropriate adjustments to the scope, budget, timelines, and performance targets, consistent with the reduced amount of funding that is available under Phase 2 RTT–ELC, the State will maintain consistency with the absolute priority and meet all program and eligibility requirements of the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition.
(b) The State must update tables 1–5 from section (A)(1) of its FY 2011 application. In addition, if the State has made any significant changes to the commitments, financial investments, numbers of children served, legislation, policies, practices, or other key areas of the program described in section (A)(1) of its FY 2011 application, it must submit an explanation of those changes, including updates to tables 6–13 from section (A)(1) as needed.
The State will maintain, in a manner consistent with its updates to tables 1–13, its commitment to and investment in high-quality, accessible early learning and development programs and services for children with high needs, as described in section (A)(1) of its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application.
(c) Subject to adjustments made because of the reduced amount of funding available under the Phase 2 RTT–ELC award process, the State will maintain its plan to establish strong participation and commitment by Participating State Agencies and other early learning and development stakeholders as described in section (A)(3) of its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application.
(d) The State will maintain its commitment to integrating and aligning resources and policies across Participating State Agencies as described in section (A)(3) of its FY 2011 RTT–ELC application.
(e) The State will comply with all of the accountability, transparency, and reporting requirements that applied to the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition. (See the notice inviting applications for the FY 2011 RTT–ELC competition, published in the
(f) The State will comply with the requirements of any evaluation of the RTT–ELC program, or of specific activities it proposes to pursue as part of the program, conducted and supported by the Departments.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Sections 14005 and 14006, Division A, of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Pub. L. 111–5), as amended by section 1832(b) of Division B of Pub. L. 112–10, the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, and the Department of Education Appropriations Act, 2012 (Title III of Division F of Public Law 112–74, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012).
The Departments are not bound by any estimates in this notice.
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2.a. Cost Sharing or Matching: This program does not require cost sharing or matching.
b. Supplement-Not-Supplant: This competition involves supplement-not-supplant funding requirements. Consistent with RTT–ELC program requirement (J) in the notice inviting applications that published in the
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Individuals with disabilities can obtain a copy of the application package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting the person listed under
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Applications Available: September 20, 2012.
Date of Pre-Application Meeting: September 25, 2012.
To assist eligible applicants in preparing an application and responding to questions, the Departments will host a Webinar for eligible applicants shortly after the publication of this notice. Because only five States are eligible for these funds, information about the Webinar will be provided directly to those States. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: October 26, 2012.
We do not consider an application that does not comply with the deadline requirements.
We will provide Congress with the names of the States that have submitted applications, as well as post the names of these States on the program's Web site. We will also post all applications submitted by the States. Therefore, please ensure that your application does not include personally identifiable information, proprietary information, or other non-public information.
Individuals with disabilities who need an accommodation or auxiliary aid in connection with the application process should contact the person listed under
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a. Have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN);
b. Register both your DUNS number and TIN with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) and, after July 24, 2012, with the System for Award Management (SAM), the Government's primary registrant database;
c. Provide your DUNS number and TIN on your application; and
d. Maintain an active CCR or SAM registration with current information while your application is under review by the Departments and, if you are awarded a grant, during the project period.
You can obtain a DUNS number from Dun and Bradstreet. A DUNS number can be created within one business day.
The CCR or SAM registration process may take five or more business days to complete. If you are currently registered with the CCR, you may not need to make any changes. However, please make certain that the TIN associated with your DUNS number is correct. Also note that you will need to update your CCR registration annually. This may take three or more business days to complete. Information about SAM is available at SAM.gov.
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Applications for grants under this competition must be submitted in electronic format on a CD or DVD, with CD–ROM or DVD–ROM preferred. In addition, applicants must submit a signed paper original of the Application Assurances and Certification and one copy of that signed original. Autopen, copies, PDFs (Adobe Portable Document Format), and faxed copies of signature pages are not acceptable originals.
We strongly recommend the applicant to submit a CD or DVD of its application that includes the following files:
1. A single file that contains the body of the application, including required budget tables, that has been converted into a PDF (Portable Document) format so that the PDF is searchable. Note that a PDF created from a scanned document will not be searchable.
2. A single file in a PDF format that contains all of the required signature
3. Copies of the completed electronic budget spreadsheets with the required budget tables, which should be in a separate file from the body of the application.
Each of these items must be clearly labeled with the State's name and any other relevant identifying information. States must not password-protect these files.
We must receive all grant applications by 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. We will not accept an application for this competition after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. Therefore, we strongly recommend that applicants arrange for mailing or hand delivery of their application in advance of the application deadline date.
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The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.
If we receive an application after the application deadline, we will not consider that application.
d.
(1) It must indicate on the envelope that the CFDA number of the competition under which it is submitting its application is 84.412; and
(2) The Application Control Center will mail to the applicant a notification of receipt of the grant application. If the applicant does not receive this notification, it should call the Application Control Center at (202) 245–6288.
In accordance with 34 CFR 75.216(b) and (c), an application will not be evaluated for funding if the applicant does not comply with all of the procedural rules that govern the submission of the application or the application does not contain the information required under the program.
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We remind potential applicants that in reviewing applications in any discretionary grant program, the Secretaries may consider, under 34 CFR 75.217(d)(3), the past performance of the applicant in carrying out a previous award, such as the applicant's use of funds, achievement of project objectives, and compliance with grant conditions. The Secretaries may also consider whether the applicant failed to submit a timely performance report or submitted a report of questionable quality.
In addition, the Secretaries also require various assurances including those applicable to Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department of Education (34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).
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If an application is not evaluated or not selected for funding, we notify you.
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We reference the regulations outlining the terms and conditions of an award in the
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Deborah Spitz, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW., room 3E230, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: 202–260–3793 or by email:
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1–800–877–8339.
You may also access documents of these Departments published in the