2016 ABE Grant Application Meetings

Welcome to the annual ABE

Grant Application

Session

Spring 2020

From the Minnesota Department of Education

• Todd Wagner, State ABE Director

• Julie Dincau, Transitions Specialist

• Cherie Eichinger, Administrative Support

• Brad Hasskamp, Secondary Credential & Policy Specialist

• Astrid Liden, Professional Development Specialist

• Alice Smith, Administrative Support/GED

• Jodi Versaw, Program Quality Specialist

• Lina Jau, Grants Specialist

MNABE Staff

AgendaGrants and Applications

• 5-year narratives

• IELCE

• Federal competitive application

• Annual application

ABE Finance

• Fiscal year end reminders

ABE GRANTS AND APPLICATIONS

Grant Applications for ABE Funding

Application Typical due date Time period

Annual ABE Application for state and federal funds (annual renewal)

June 1 One year

Five-Year Narrative (five-year reauthorization)

June 1 (only once every 5 years) Five-six years

IELCE (Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education) grants

Last due in 2019, Upcoming competition in 2022

Three years

Federal ABE Funds Application(aka “Federal re-compete” or “federal competitive application”)

Last due in 2017,Upcoming completion in 2022

Five years

Other grants (e.g. Pathways to Prosperity, foundation grants)

Varies Varies




June 1 One year


June 1 (only once every 5 years) Five years



Three years


Last due in 2017,Upcoming due date in spring 2022

Five years


Varies Varies

Consortia submitting five-year narratives in 2020

• AALC-LeSueur

• Cass Lake

• Fergus Falls

• Mankato

• Moorhead

• Robbinsdale

• SPCLC - St. Paul

• SW ABE - Marshall

• Tri-County Corrections

• Brainerd

• Glacial Lakes-Willmar

• Metro North-Anoka

• Metro South-Bloomington

• Minneapolis

• Red Lake

• ThinkSelf Deaf ABE

• White Earth

Consortia submitting narratives in 2021

2021 Narrative writers

• June 2020: narrative review

• Thursday, June 25, 2020: in-person review session (at MDE)

• Tuesday, September 29, 2020: Narrative writers’ workshop (at MDE)

Additional reviewers may be needed!




June 1 One year





Three years



Five years


Varies Varies

Current IELCE Grantees:

•Current grantees will need to submit an annual report with performance, narrative, and financial information

•Report template will be sent out to grantees in June and is tentatively due July 30

•Grants can be renewed for 20-21 and 21-22 program years

Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE)

Next IELCE grant opportunity:

• Spring 2022

Integrated English Literacy and Civics Education (IELCE)




June 1 One year





Three years



Five years


Varies Varies

Upcoming in 2022: Federal Competitive Application

The Federal Competitive Application is a process to compete the federal ABE funds, as required by WIOA. All currently funded ABE consortia that wish to continue receiving federal ABE funding must complete this application process.

NOTE: There will be no 5-year narratives due in 2022!

ABE Providers

All entities within a consortium that use ABE funding to provide ABE instruction (including the fiscal agent/grantee) are ABE providers.

Federal Competitive Application

NEW for 2022:

All ABE providers within a consortium must “demonstrate effectiveness”.

This will mean providing performance data on:

• Improving participants’ skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and English language; and

• Participant outcomes with employment, diplomas, and transitions to postsecondary education and training.

Federal Competitive Application - Tips

Don’t obsess about it yet!

Do make sure your data in SiD is organized so that you can pull reports for each provider separately

Do consider how you can be tracking information that is not currently required in SiD, such as:

• Students getting jobs or promotions

• Students accepted to college

Questions so far?

Questions about:

• 5-year narratives

• IELCE (Civics)

• Federal competitive application




June 1 One year





Three years



Five years


Varies Varies

ABE Annual Grant Application Materials

For grant application documents: education.mn.govDistricts, Schools and Educators – Business and Finance – Grants

Documents to download

Application Microsoft Word

Instructions Microsoft Word

Tables Microsoft Excel

DUE DATE: Monday, June 1 at 3:30 PM in SERVS

NEW wrinkle this year!!

Annual Application Process








What is on the application?

The application is mostly boilerplate…

But be aware of the assurances.

(Assurances are agreements the grantee makes by accepting the funds)

Quiz!

Assurances

ABE-specific assurances:

• Follow all ABE-relevant federal laws, state statutes, policies, rules and regulations

• Use ABE funds only for ABE (not for anyone age 17 or under, or enrolled in K-12)

• Submit annual reporting on contact hours in June, and on Measurable Skill Gains in August

• School districts must hire licensed teachers, except ESL teachers with ESL degree

• Use the SiD data system

• Record contact hours correctly

Assurances, continued

ABE-specific assurances:

• Maintain email communication with the MDE-ABE office

• Manager or designee must attend key ABE events

• Have a written consortium agreement

• Maintain an MOU with the local workforce center

• Coordinate with one-stop center around infrastructure costs

• Designate a representative to serve on local and/or regional workforce boards, as appropriate

New/Revised Assurances

• “The grantee will comply with guidance on accurately naming and identifying classes and programming sites within the Minnesota ABE database SiD in order to provide accurate information for the Adult Literacy Hotline and CareerForce.”

• “The grantee will expend all revenue generated by student tuition and fees within the fiscal year it was received.”








Tables – one Excel document with 4 tabs

Table A: Contact Hours (May-April)

• Table A is crucial because it is directly tied to funding.

• The hours reported on Table A are what is used in the official aid calculation for funding, NOT what is in SiD.

• Any underreporting on Table A will result in a decrease in contact hour revenue, even if those hours are later entered into SiD

Notes about Table A

Table 7: Staffing

• Required primarily for federal reporting

• Not tied to funding

• Do your best to count and report things accurately, but don’t lose sleep over it

• NOTE ABOUT SiD…

Notes about Table 7

Table 13: Funding

• State and federal totals must match award letter

– Federal total should include tech aid, transitions aid and low-incidence disability aid

– It may be necessary to estimate slightly since the fiscal year is not completed

• Total number of providers must match Table B

Notes about Table 13

State Funding =$177,831.50

Federal Funding$5660.89 + $3460.00 =$9120.89

Table 13 Example 1 - Award Letter

• Consortium = 3 school districts (only one is a provider), 1 CBO and 1 county jail

Table 13 Example 1– all members are school districts

State Funding =$7,545,649.27

Federal Funding$620,731.33 + $45,000 +$79,790.50 +$4,238.46 =$749,760.29

Table 13 Example 2 - Award Letter

Table 13 Example 1– districts and CBOs

Table B: Providers, Sites and Other Members

Remember the definition of ABE Providers

All entities within a consortium that use ABE funding to provide ABE instruction (including the fiscal agent/grantee) are ABE providers.

• No longer a column for “Grantee/Subrecipient”– Any entity that pays for one or more ABE instructors is an ABE PROVIDER

should be listed in the first section

– Any entity that is a member but does not pay for ABE instruction is not an ABE provider and should be listed in the second section

• Programming Site should be name of building as known by the public

• Use complete, mapable address (including Zip code)– Format: 123 Main St, City, MN 55555

• Put an X in NON-PUBLIC column if NON-PUBLIC site

Notes on Table B

Table B: Correct example 1

Table B: Correct example 2

Table B: Incorrect example 1

Remember to use building name

Table B: Incorrect example 2

Remember to use complete addresses

Remember to indicate sites that are non-public

Note about Table 13 and Table B

Number of providers listed on Table 13 should match number of providers listed on Table B

Questions so far?

• Annual Application

• Tables

• A (Student Counts and Contact Hours)

• 7 (Staff and Volunteers)

• 13 (Funding Distribution to Providers)

• B (Providers, Sites, Members)

ABE FINANCE

State Funding and Federal Funding

The annual ABE application is for:

State ABE funding (FIN 322)

Federal ABE funding (FIN 438)

Note: FIN 322 and FIN 438 are UFARS finance codes.

UFARS is the accounting system that school

districts must use to track and report spending

Reminders about State and Federal ABE Funding

ABE funding can only fund ABE services for eligible adults

– Cannot be used for K-12 services or general community edservices

– ABE funds are technically reimbursement for the cost of operating an ABE program

• Therefore, these funds cannot be used to build up a fund balance

Reminders about State and Federal ABE Funding

• There are caps on how much ABE funding can be spent on admin expenses– 5% cap on state funding

– 5% cap on federal funding

IMPORTANT NOTE: 5% cap is for the entire consortium, not for each provider

• Admin expenses should use UFARS object code 110 – Use OBJ 110 for salary of administrator who doesn’t directly oversee

ABE

– Use OBJ 120 for salary of ABE manager

Federal funding: fiscal year end

Keep in mind as we approach the end of the fiscal year….

Federal funds must be expended by June 30.

The deadline to draw all FY20 federal funding in SERVS is October 1. A “spend lock” will be applied after the deadline.

Federal funding: quiz questions

Q: What happens when federal ABE funds are not spent at the end of the fiscal year?

A: Unspent federal funds roll over into the total statewide pot of funding for the following fiscal year.

Q: Why do I care?

A: Because you want our system to use all our funding and not lose any.

State funding: fiscal year end

Keep in mind as we approach the end of the fiscal year….

Up to 20% of state funds can be spent between July 1 – September 30 of the following fiscal year.

When carrying over funds in this way, be sure they are course coded correctly (010 = FY20 funds).

State funding: carryover codes

Course codes to use in upcoming years for carryover

FY20 = 010FY21 = 001FY22 = 002etc.

State funding: quiz questions

Q: What happens when state ABE funds are not spent at the end of the fiscal year (or in the additional quarter)?

A: Any unspent state funds are returned to the state general fund and no longer available to ABE.

Q: Why does it matter? A: Because it’s better to leave federal ABE funds unspent than state ABE funds.

Check with your business office!

Are expenditures on track with the budget?

How much state and federal funds are remaining?

Will all those funds be spent by the end of the fiscal year?

If all funds can’t be spent, how can we make sure state funds are spent down first, to avoid losing them?

For More Grant or Financial Info

1. Talk to other ABE managers

2. Talk with your business office

3. Check the Grants page on the MDE Website

4. Send questions to Cherie Eichinger: [email protected]

Cherie will send your questions on to other MDE staff to answer

mailto:[email protected]

Thank you! Questions?

Todd [email protected]

651-582-8466

Jodi [email protected]

651-582-8593

Brad [email protected]

651-582-8594

Julie [email protected]

651-582-8681

Astrid [email protected]

651-582-8424