§7243 Applications

Summary

Groups that want a grant must apply to the Secretary when and how the Secretary tells them to. The application must explain the group’s plan for family engagement in schools, how the State education agency and partners will support the statewide family engagement center, and a plan to build statewide infrastructure for family engagement (management and governance, statewide leadership, and systemwide services). The application must show experience training and helping schools, educators, parents, and groups that serve diverse and disadvantaged students, and must explain how the group will target services to low‑income students and parents. The applicant must promise to set up a special advisory committee made up mostly of parents and also including education experts, local school reps (including students), business people, and state and local education officials. The applicant must use at least 65% of funds each year to serve schools and community groups that work with high numbers of disadvantaged students (for example, English learners, minorities, students with disabilities, homeless or foster youth, and migrant students). The center must be large and skilled enough to serve the State and local agencies, keep trained staff, serve urban, suburban, and rural areas, work with other family-engagement and parent-resource centers, spend at least 30% of funds each year on technical help for evidence-based parent education, help agencies and families support student learning, and do outreach to hard-to-reach and low‑income parents (including those not proficient in English). The applicant must also run community training to improve adult literacy, including financial literacy. The Secretary will give priority to centers that plan to use funds for evidence-based activities as defined in law.