Section 151.120  Application for School Maintenance Project Grants

a)         An eligible applicant may apply for a grant by submitting an application on a form provided by the State Board of Education.  A separate application shall be submitted for each project for which the applicant seeks a grant award.

b)         Up to $1 million shall be reserved each fiscal year for emergency projects.  If funds, other than funds reserved for emergency projects, remain after the award of grants from the announced application cycle, a second application period will be held.  If funds reserved for emergency grants remain at the end of the fiscal year, these funds shall be distributed for other approved projects from the latest application cycle.

c)         An application for a grant for an emergency project shall be submitted directly to the State Board of Education by the deadline stipulated on the application.  A copy shall also be sent to the regional superintendent of education.  Emergency applications shall be submitted to the following address:

Illinois State Board of Education

School Maintenance Project Program

100 North First Street

Springfield, Illinois 62777-0001

d)         All other applications shall be submitted to the regional office of education two weeks prior to the application deadline announced by the State Board of Education for the fiscal year for which the grant is sought.  The regional superintendent shall review and forward the applications to the State Board of Education at the address stipulated in subsection (c) of this Section by the application deadline.

e)         An application that is incomplete shall be returned and shall not be processed until it is complete.  An application must be complete by the applicable submission deadline in order to be considered.  All information contained in the application shall be subject to verification and correction by the State Board of Education by such means as on-site inspection and review of documents.

f)          Each application shall include the following information:

1)         The names, addresses, and descriptions of the facilities included in the project.

2)         A narrative description of the nature and scope of the project, including the starting and completion dates for the project.

3)         The total cost of the project, amount and source of local matching funds, and the requested grant amount.

4)         The priority category of the project (see Section 151.130(b)(2) of this Part).

A)        For an emergency project, the applicant shall indicate the date and nature of the emergency and the extent of building damage.

B)        For a health/life safety project necessary to correct a code violation, the applicant shall identify the health/life safety work by amendment number.

5)         For applicants that are seeking more than one grant in a fiscal year, the order in which the applicant wants its projects funded.

6)         Such assurances as the State Board of Education may require, to include at least the following:

A)        that the local board of education, in the case of school districts, or other school governing authority authorized the school maintenance project during a duly convened meeting, and

B)        that the local board of education, in the case of school districts, or other school governing authority reserved local funds in an amount equal to the school maintenance project grant requested to meet the local match requirement.

g)         Each application shall bear an original signature of the president of the local board of education or other school governing authority.

(Source:  Added at 24 Ill. Reg. 5661, effective March 17, 2000)