**Expansion Grants**

Preschool Development Grants --**Expansion Grants Webinar**

August 16, 2014

**Libby:** Thank you so much, and thanks to all of you for joining us today for the Preschool Development Grants webinar, focused on Expansion Grants. Today's webinar is intended to provide technical assistance to State applicants intent on submitting an application to the Preschool Development Grants, Expansion Grants Discretionary Grant competition. Note that this is a webinar for State eligible to apply for Expansion Grants.

Yesterday we presented a webinar for the State eligible for Development Grants. Those webinar slides, the transcript and recording for all webinars, will be posted on the Preschool Development Grants website.

The Expansion Grants webinar is designed to better assist State applicants in understanding the content of the application. We'll discuss the application's specific Selection Criteria, the priorities, the requirements and the definitions. During the webinar we’ll explain how applicants might develop the Budget Section, which is so important, based on Selection Criterion G and the Budget Narrative Requirements. 

We'll discuss the Excel spreadsheets that reviewers will use to better understand your application and assist them as they review comment and score the narrative, the performance measures and the tables.

Finally, we’ll provide a few tips on how to access and use Grants.gov, and you know that's complicated from the other webinar, the system that all applicants will use to upload their completed applications. We'll review technical, clarifying and logistical questions for those participating in the webinar today.

We hope the information provided in this TA presentation assists State applicants as they prepare their applications for submission, which are due, as you know, on October 14th of this year.

It's really wonderful to see staff from both Departments working side-by-side on both of these programs, and they come together today, and as they will in the future, as a single team.

For today's presentation we have staff from both ED and HHS who will guide you through each part of the application and help answer your questions.

I like to go over a few housekeeping items. The Expansion Grant application is available for downloading at the Preschool Development Grants website at ED.gov. The application, the Executive Summary, the Notice Inviting Application and the FAQ documents were posted in the preschool grants website on August 13th, and the Notice Inviting Application was published in the Federal Register on August 18th. We hope that you have downloaded and read these before today's presentation. You may want to refer to them during the webinar.

During the presentation all phone lines will be placed on mute to avoid feedback. Please use the chat feature to submit questions, which we will answer at the end of today's presentation. Additional questions may be submitted to the Preschool Development Grants competition at ED.gov. The slides, transcript and recording from today's presentation will also be posted next week at the Preschool Development Grants website.

We want to remind you that the Grants.gov submission procedures and Tips for Applicants may be found on page 24 of the application package. To facilitate your use of Grants.gov, this Tips for Applicants Section includes important submission procedures you will need to be aware of to ensure the application is received in a timely manner and accepted by the Departments. Also, please register early. You've heard this before, and we're going to keep saying it. At Grants.gov, registration involves many steps, including registration at SAM, that's www.SAM.gov, which may take approximately one week to complete, but could take upwards of several weeks. You may begin working on your application while completing the registration process, but you cannot submit your application until all the registration steps are complete. So please register early.

Applicants should submit their application a day or two in advance of the closing date, as detailed in the Federal Register notice. If you have questions regarding this matter, please email the Grants.gov contact center at support@Grants.gov, or call 1-800-518-4726.

We are absolutely thrilled to be able to present this information of Expansion Grants to you today. We want to especially thank Congress for providing the funds to advance the work that many of you are already doing in your States and communities.

Today we'll be outlining the information contained in the Notices Inviting Application for the Expansion Grants. Throughout the call you will be able to ask questions through the webinar chat feature on your screen, and we will attempt to answer those at the end of the call. We have plenty of time and think that will be possible.

We may be able to answer a limited number of questions about the information contained in the Notices Inviting Application today for the Expansion Grants competition. Any unanswered questions during the webinar may be followed up with additional guidance. We'll also provide contact information at the end of the presentation so you can email us if you have questions after the webinar. I know some of you have emailed me, and you know I'm sending them on to the team, so that we use the right process to get back to you.  So, now I'm going to turn the webinar over to our great team, who knows so much about this, and our first presenter is Chrisanne Gayl from ED.

**Chrisanne Gayl:** Thank you so much, Libby. I'm going to start with some big-picture facts on Expansion Grants. As you hopefully know by now, we have up to $160 million available this year for Expansion Grants. These awards will range from $10 million to $35 million per year or $40 million-$140 million for the four-year grant period. States eligible to apply for Expansion Grants currently serve 10% or more of their four-year-olds in State preschool programs, or have received a Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant. The amount of funding the State would receive is based on their population of four-year-olds from families at 200% of the Federal poverty level and below, and we have grouped States in relative funding bands, as you can see, in the Notice and in the application. For further information on the award ranges and your States specific cap, please look at the application.

Here's an overview of the Notice Inviting Applications. Application Requirements list elements that must be included in a complete application, such as signatures of the Governor or Lead Agency, and a letter of support from the State Advisory Council. The Program Requirements specify what applicants must do if they win a grant, such as reporting, participating in technical assistance activities, and publishing findings. Program Requirements must be met during the four years of the grant period.

Applications will be evaluated based on seven Selection Criteria: A through G; also, the Absolute Priorities, and if the applicant chooses to write to these, are three Competitive Priorities. Note that on this slide and in other slides we may not list all of the text from the notice. Please refer to the text in the notice and in the application, as applicants will be held responsible for the complete text.

There are many defined terms throughout the notice inviting application and the application. Defined terms are indicated by capitalization. Some of the defined terms that we will highlight throughout this webinar include Early Learning Provider, Eligible Children, Eligible Children with Disabilities, High-Need Communities, High-Quality Preschool Programs and Subgrantee. All of these definitions can be found in the application.

Our next section of the webinar provides applicants with general information to better develop a high-quality application. In developing a quality application, we encourage States to be sure to address Absolute Priority 1 throughout the entire application, also to illustrate the State’s commitment to State preschool programs, to provide an ambitious and achievable plan, and to complete the Excel spreadsheets and tables, which can be downloaded from our website.

Let's look first at Absolute Priority 1. Priority 1: Increasing Access to High-Quality Preschool Programs in High-Need Communities is the focus of the competition, which Expansion Grant applicants must meet in order to receive a grant award. To meet this priority, the State's application must demonstrate how it will increase access to High-Quality Preschool Programs for Eligible Children by having an ambitious and achievable plan to: One, begin serving Eligible Children no later than in year one of the grant period; subgrant at least 95% of its Federal grant funds received over the course of the grant period to one or more Subgrantees to implement and sustain voluntary, High-Quality Preschool Programs for Eligible Children in two or more High-Need Communities in the State; and also to use no more than 5% of its Federal grant funds received during the grant period for State-level infrastructure and quality improvements, such as those as we outline in Selection Criteria C1.

Notice that the term "Ambitious and Achievable" is highlighted in red font. This term, found in Application Requirement E, delineates the elements of an ambitious and achievable plan.

Let's look at the next slide to become familiar with the eight elements of an ambitious and achievable plan. 

In determining whether a State has ambitious and achievable goals or targets for a given Selection Criteria, reviewers will examine the State's goals or targets in the context of the State's plan, and the evidence and the evidence that it submits, if any, to support the plan. 

Reviewers will not be looking for any specific targets, nor will they necessarily reward higher targets above lower ones with higher scores. Rather, the reviewers will reward States for developing goals and targets that, in light of each State’s plan and the current context and status of the work in that State, are shown to be ambitious and achievable.

We use this term repeatedly in the notice. It is an anchor term for applicants to understand and for reviewers to use in guiding their scoring. In determining the quality of a State’s plan for a given Selection Criterion or Competitive Preference Priority, reviewers will assess the extent to which the plan is ambitious and achievable, including whether it is feasible and has a high probability of successful implementation and whether it contains the following component elements: The key goals of the plan:

1) the key activities to be undertaken; the rationale for the activities; and, if applicable, 

2) where in the State the activities will be initially implemented, and where and how they'll be scaled up over time; 

(3) a realistic timeline, including key milestones, for implementing each key activity; 

(4) the party or parties responsible for implementing each activity and other key personnel assigned to each activity; 

(5) appropriate financial resources to support the successful implementation and sustainment of the plan; 

(6) the information requested as supporting evidence, if any, together with any additional information the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers in judging the credibility of the plan; 

7) the information requested in the performance measures, where applicable; 

8) and how the State will address the needs of Eligible Children, including those who may be in need of additional supports, such as children who have disabilities or developmental delays; who are English learners, etc.

There are also two additional Absolute Priorities for Expansion Grant applicants. States meet either Absolute Priority 2 or 3. No State meets both. States that have received a RTT-ELC grant meet Absolute Priority 2. States that have not received an RTT-ELC grant and that serve 10% or more of their four-year-olds in State preschool, meet Priority 3.

Please note that in selecting grantees the Secretaries may consider high-ranking applications meeting Absolute Priority 2 and Absolute Priority 3 separately, to ensure that a variety of States benefit from the Preschool Development Grants program, and that States that have received and RTT-ELC grant are not unfairly advantaged in this competition. Absolute Priority 1 is the first time we ask you to use the Excel spreadsheets which you would have downloaded from our website. When you submit your application, you will upload these in the Excel format. The other attachments that you must upload will be in PDF format. There are five tables to fill out in the Excel spreadsheets. During the webinar we will show you where each of these fits in the application. We include tables in the application for two reasons: one, to clarify to applicants what data they need to provide, and also to assist reviewers. Please note that you should not feel constrained by the tables. You must provide the requested information, but also feel free to provide additional information that is helpful. Tables aren't everything. Remember to write a strong narrative and refer back to the Criterion, to make sure you are fully addressing it.

On the first tab of the Excel spreadsheets, there is a tab for instructions for all of the tables. There are also tabs for Table A, Table B, Competitive Priority 1, Table D4 and the Budget Table. Additionally, there is an example of Table A, with fictional data, to illustrate how Table A calculates the inserted numbers for the applicant.

Here are the general instructions for Table A. This table is divided into three sections, which correspond to Absolute Priority 1, Competitive Priority 1 and Selection Criteria D4. To reduce the burden on States, many of the cells contain formulas that calculate additional information, such as, percentages and totals. These cells are locked, and you cannot edit them. 

You should only enter information into cells that are light red, and once you put information into these cells, they will turn light orange. 

Finally, this table should serve as a planning tool; therefore, you should input your best estimates for future funding levels. These estimates should be supported with evidence in the narrative portion of your application.

The Excel spreadsheet file may be downloaded from the Preschool Development Grants website at ED.gov, for use by the applicant.

On this part of Table A, you will complete part I, which corresponds to Absolute Priority 1. Note that you will complete the red cells only. The others are not to be completed, or will self-populate. For years 1-4 of the grant period, fill out the expected amount of Federal funds allocated to State-level infrastructure on line 1A, to new preschool slots on line 1C, and to improved preschool slots online 1D. State-level infrastructure should account for no more than 5% of the cumulative funds over all for years. Nothing else should be filled out in this section. As I said, some of the cells will self-populate based on previously-entered formulas, and those cells should be left alone.

Now this time, I'd like to turn the presentation over to my colleague over at the Department of Health and Human Services, Richard Gonzales.

**Richard Gonzales:** Thank you Chrisanne. Let's now look at the specific Selection Criteria for the competition and how they will be scored. For presentation purposes, we sometimes may paraphrase Selection Criterion, application requirements, Program Requirements and other parts of the published notice inviting application or application package. However, applicants are responsible for what the entire notice inviting application and application require.

The point overview and scoring chart are located on page 73 in the application. The scoring chart shows the maximum number of points and the percent of total points available that are assigned to each Selection Criterion and Competitive Preference Priority. There are a total of 200 possible points for the seven Selection Criterion, and up to an additional 30 points for the Competitive Preference Priorities. 230 points total are possible for the Selection Criterion and the Competitive Preference Priorities.

The scoring rubric will be used to guide the reviewers in scoring Selection Criteria and priorities. See general notes about scoring, located on page 166 of the application, for more information about how reviewers will assess ambitious and achievable plans.

For high-quality response, reviewers will reward 80-100% of the possible points. For a medium- to high-quality response, reviewers will award 50-80% of the possible points. For medium- to low-quality response, reviewers will award 20-50% of the possible points, and for a low-quality response, reviewers will award 1-20% of the possible points. 

There are two exceptions: Competitive Priority 1, on matching, has a separate rubric, and the Competitive Priority 3, on creating new slots, is 10 points or zero points.

On page 26 of the application, how to write responses to the Selection Criterion is discussed. We see here on how the pieces fit together, that there is a narrative for all Selection Criteria, including this narrative section, and this is where you write your response to the Criterion. Please type your narrative in the text box provided in this application.

For evidence, some Selection Criteria ask you to provide specific evidence. This is indicated in the application. You may provide additional evidence for any Criterion if you think it will help reviewers evaluate your application. Keep in mind that too much additional information could have the effect of distracting the reviewers from what is crucial. 

Note: you must provide the evidence as part of your narrative response to the Selection Criterion, or included as an attachment in the appendix. If you put it in an appendix, you must provide a clear reference to the appendix within your narrative.

Many Selection Criteria ask you to provide specific evidence, including baseline data and annual targets for key outcomes the State will deliver over the term of the grant. These tables are part of the Excel spreadsheets that will need to be uploaded to Grants.gov in Part V - Other Attachments.

The tables provide you with a framework for presenting information, and provide reviewers with a consistent way to look at this information. You must complete the tables as part of your response. Feel free to provide additional data in the form of graphs, tables or diagrams, if it will help reviewers understand the critical facts about your State. You may use the narrative to explain and describe the significance of the data, as it relates to your State plan. 

Please note that some of the tables ask you to set targets around key outcomes you expect to achieve during the grant period. These tables generally include baseline data and annual targets. In addition, you may provide additional baseline data targets for any criteria you choose. Peer reviewers will consider, as part of their evaluation of a State's application, the extent to which the State has set ambitious and achievable annual targets. The State will be held accountable for achieving these targets should it win the grant. If your State does not have data that are requested in the data tables or in the baseline performance measures, please indicate "not available" in the table. Use your narrative to provide any additional explanation that may be necessary to make your point.

The first Selection Criterion is Selection Criterion A. Here we ask applicants to provide an Executive Summary of the ambitious and achievable plan. Section A is worth 10 points. Applications will be evaluated on the extent to which the State includes an ambitious and achievable plan for expanding access to High-Quality Preschool Programs that clearly articulate how the plans proposed under each Criterion in this section, when taken together, will build on the State's progress to date, as demonstrated in Section Criterion B; provide voluntary High-Quality Preschool Programs for Eligible Children through subgrants, to each Subgrantee in two or more High-Need Communities; and increase the number and percentage of Eligible Children served in High-Quality Preschool Programs during each year of the grant period, through the creation of new and the improvement of existing State preschool program slots, as applicable.

Note the FAQ bubble in the bottom left-hand corner of this slide. Periodically we will reference where you can find an FAQ regarding the information on this slide. Note also that High-Quality Preschool Program is capitalized, and we have bolded in red. High-Quality Preschool Program is a defined term. We have a very specific definition for this term, and programs funded through the Preschool Development Grants must meet this definition. Let's look at the definition on the next slide.

Looking at this definition, we can see that High-Quality Preschool Program means an early learning program that includes structural elements that are evidence-based and nationally recognized as important for ensuring program quality, including, at a minimum, high staff qualifications, including a teacher with a Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education, or a Bachelor’s degree in any field with a State-approved alternate pathway, which may include coursework, clinical practice and evidence of knowledge of content and pedagogy relating to early childhood; also teaching assistants with appropriate credentials; high-quality professional development for all staff; a child-to-instructional-staff ratio of no more than 10-1; a class size of no more than 20, with, at a minimum, one teacher with high-staff qualifications, as outlined previously; a full-day program; inclusion of children with disabilities, to ensure access to, and full participation in, all opportunities; developmentally appropriate, culturally- and linguistically-responsive instruction, and evidence-based curricula and learning environments that are aligned with the State early learning and development standards, for at least a year prior to kindergarten entry; individualized accommodations and supports, so that all children can access and participate fully in learning activities; instructional staff salaries that are comparable to the salaries of local K-12 instructional staff; program evaluation to ensure continuous improvement; on-site or accessible comprehensive services for children, and community partnerships that promote families' access to services that support their children's learning and development, and evidence-based health and safety standards. At a minimum, these are the elements that must be part of your High-Quality Preschool Program.

We can see, going back to Selection Criterion A, the Executive Summary, that applications will be reviewed on how the plans also have all the characteristics specified in the definition of High-Quality Preschool Programs; set expectations for the school readiness of children upon kindergarten entry; and are supported by a board group of stakeholders, including early learning intermediary organizations; and, if applicable, State and local early learning Councils.

Going on, the seventh piece of the Executive Summary should address how the State will allocate funds between the activities to build or enhance State preschool program infrastructure and subgrants to Early Learning Providers. When allocating funds for activities to build or enhance State preschool program infrastructure, you would be using no more than 5% of Federal grant funds received, over the grant period, on State-level infrastructure, including, but not limited to, monitoring and evaluation and other quality enhancing activities that improve the delivery of High-Quality Preschool Programs to Eligible Children.

When subgranting to Early Learning Providers, you would be doing so to implement voluntary High-Quality Preschool Programs for Eligible Children in two or more High-Need Communities, including how it will provide high quality preschool programs to Eligible Children, no later than the end of year 1 of the grant period, subgrant at least 95% of its Federal grant funds to its Subgrantee, or Subgrantees, over the grant period, and support each Subgrantee in culturally- and linguistically-appropriate outreach and communication effort, in order to ensure that all families, including those who are isolated or otherwise hard-to-reach, are informed of the opportunity and encouraged to enroll their children in available programs.

Here we have two other defined terms, Eligible Children and Subgrantee. So let's take a look at those two definitions. Eligible Children means four-year-old children from families whose income is at or below 200% of the Federal poverty line. Subgrantee means an Early Learning Provider serving at least two high need communities that are receiving a subgrant from the State, and is participating in the State's ambitious and achievable plan, and within this defined term, we have another defined term, "Early Learning Provider".  Early Learning Provider means an entity that carries out an Early Childhood Education program, including an LEA, charter school, educational service agency, Head Start program, licensed child care provider, municipality or other local government agency, tribe or Indian organization, institution of higher education, library, museum or other eligible licensed provider, as defined by the State or a consortium thereof.

At the end of each Selection Criterion is a list of evidence that applicants need to provide. The parentheses letter and number tie back to the sub-criteria for that Selection Criterion. The evidence needed for Selection Criterion a is as follows: for sub-criteria A3 and A7, information contained in Table A for the number of Eligible Children to be served each year of the grant, and the number and percentage of State preschool program slots.

For A4, the evidence needed is documentation of the structural elements; A5, a set of expectations for school readiness; A6, letters of support from stakeholders, including Early Learning Intermediary Organizations and, if applicable, State and local early learning councils, as well as any other supporting evidence the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers. Please note that for A3 and A7, the information should be entered in Table A from the Excel spreadsheets. 

Selection Criteria A3 and A7 ask for information contained in Part III of Table A. Line 3A shows the number of Eligible Children to be served each year of the grant. The Table also shows the number and percentage of Eligible Children served in State preschool programs slots.

Part III is specifically for Selection Criterion D4, but you will discuss the new and improved slots that are created in the Executive Summary, as well.

Selection Criterion B is worth 20 points and is where the State discusses its commitment to State preschool programs, as evidenced by such things as State early learning and development standards, the State's financial investment, if any, and number and percentage of children, including Eligible Children, served in State-funded preschool programs over the last four years, and enacted and pending legislation, policies and/or practices that demonstrate the State's current and future commitment to increasing access to high quality preschool programs for Eligible Children.

Other ways in which the State might demonstrate its commitment to high quality preschool programs are the quality of existing early learning programs, the State's coordination of preschool programs and services, and the State's role in promoting coordination of preschool programs with other sectors. Again, you may wish to include other items as evidence of your State's commitment, and you are free to do so.

As with Criterion A, Criterion B has evidence that must be included in the application. Specific evidence is listed for Sub-criterion B1, B2 and B3 from Selection Criterion B. Other supporting evidence the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers can also be provided. For B2, a table is also provided. As with the other tables, specific instructions are also provided, and you will fill in the red cells. For each of the columns, fill out the required information for years 2010-2013. For columns 1-3, fill out past funding sources for State preschool programs. For columns 4 and 5, fill out the total number of four-year-old children in the State, and those who are at or below 200% of the Federal poverty level, respectively. For columns 6 and 7, fill out the total number of four-year-old children served in State preschool programs, and the total number of four-year-old children at or below 200% of the Federal poverty level, served in the State preschool program. The percentages will calculate automatically.

Under Criterion C, applicants would need to demonstrate how they will ensure program quality, for example: how they will use grant funds for program infrastructure and quality improvements at the State level; how they will implement the system for monitoring the Subgrantees that are receiving funds to implement preschool services; and how the State will measure the outcomes of participating children, using an assessment.

Selection Criterion C is worth 30 points, and these points will be awarded based on the extent to which the State has an ambitious and achievable plan to ensure program quality, including a description of how the State will use no more than 5% of the funds received over the grant period for State preschool program infrastructure and quality improvements at the State level through activities such as enhancing or expanding Early Learning and Development Standards, implementing program standards consistent with a High-Quality Preschool Program and supporting programs in meeting the needs of children with disabilities and English learners, including workforce development.

Continuing on the next slide, the State can use no more than 5% of the funds received over the grant period for such quality improvements as conducting a needs assessment to determine the current availability of High-Quality Preschool Programs, including private and faith-based providers and Head Start Programs; establishing or upgrading preschool teacher education and licensure requirements; improving teacher and administrator early education training programs and professional development; implementing a Statewide Longitudinal Data System to link preschool and elementary and secondary school data.

A State might also use the quality improvement funds to implement the Comprehensive Early Learning Assessment System to build preschool programs' capacity to engage parents in decisions about their children's education and development, or help families build protective factors and help parents support their children’s learning at home, build State- and community-level support for High-Quality Preschool Programs through systemic linkages to other early learning programs and resources to support families, such as child health, mental health, family support, nutrition, child welfare, and adult education and training sectors; and you may also be thinking of other activities that would support the delivery of High-Quality Preschool Programs to Eligible Children, which you could then include in your plan.

The second subsection in Selection Criterion C is about monitoring and support for continuous improvement. States will include a description of how they will implement a system for monitoring and supporting continuous improvement for each Subgrantee to ensure that each Subgrantee is providing High-Quality Preschool Programs, which may be accomplished through the use of leveraging a TQRIS and other existing monitoring systems, including the extent to which the State has the capacity to measure preschool quality, including parent satisfaction measures, and provide performance feedback to inform and drive State and local continuous program improvement efforts; the extent to which the State is using a Statewide Longitudinal Data System that is able to track student progress from preschool through third grade, or that clearly specifies the measurable outcomes, including school readiness, to be achieved by the program.

Finally, as part of Selection Criterion C, the State will describe how it will measure the outcomes of participating children across the five essential domains of school readiness during the first few months of their admission into kindergarten using an assessment or assessments, such as a kindergarten entry assessment, to achieve the purposes for which the assessment was developed and that conform with the recommendations of the National Research Council report on early childhood assessments.

Here on this slide is the evidence required for Selection Criterion C. For Criterion C2c, evidence of a monitoring protocol used to drive continuous program improvement. For C2c, evidence of State targets with measurable outcomes, including school readiness achieved by the program. In addition, the State may provide any other supporting evidence the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers.

Selection Criterion D is expanding High-Quality Preschool Programs in each High-Need Community. Selection Criterion D is worth up to 60 points. Applications will be evaluated on the extent to which the State articulates an ambitious and achievable plan for expanding High-Quality Preschool Programs in two or more High-Need Communities, including a description of how the State has selected each Subgrantee and each High-Need Community that will be served, including a description of each High-Need Community and its geographic diversity, such as whether the community is located in a rural or tribal area, and whether it is located in a Federally designated Promise Zone.

Please note that the first five Promise Zones are located in San Antonio, Texas, Eastside neighborhood, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, West Philadelphia, Los Angeles, California, neighborhoods of Pico Union, Westlake, Koreatown, Hollywood and East Hollywood, Southeastern Kentucky, Kentucky Highlands and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  For those five States, in order to be eligible for up to the full eight points under Sub-criterion D1, those States must propose to serve and coordinate with a High-Need Community located in a Promise Zone. If they do not propose to serve and coordinate with a High-Need Community in that Promise Zone, they are eligible for up to six points under this Sub-criterion. Applicants that do not have Federally-designated Promise Zones in their State are eligible for up to the full eight points under this Sub-criterion.

Selection Criterion D uses the defined term "High-Need Community," and this is another defined term that we will briefly visit.  As you can see here, High-Need Community means a geographically defined area, such as a city, a town, county, neighborhood, District, rural or tribal area, or consortium thereof, with a high level of need, as determined by the State.

The next two Sub-criteria of Selection Criterion D have to do with the extent to which each High-Need Community is currently underserved, including the number and percentage of four-year-olds in State preschool programs, and other publicly-funded preschool programs.

The plan should also describe how the State conducted outreach, including consultation with tribes, if applicable, to potential Subgrantees and the process used in selecting each Subgrantee.

D4 is about how the subgranted funds will be divided among new and improved slots. The State will subgrant at least 95% of its Federal grant award over the grant period to its Subgrantee or Subgrantees to implement and sustain voluntary, High-Quality Preschool Programs in two or more High-Need Communities, and set ambitious and achievable annual targets for the number and percentage of additional Eligible Children to be served during each year of the grant period. These are the targets you will enter in Table A.

In addition to describing how it will subgrant at least 65% of the grant award to a Subgrantee or Subgrantees, and two or more High-Need Communities, the State will provide a description of how it will incorporate in its plan ambitious . . . Oh, excuse me. I made a mistake in what I was saying here.

In addition to describing how it will subgrant at least 95% of the grant award to Subgrantees in two or more High-Need Communities, the State will provide a description of how it will incorporate in its plan an ambitious expansion of the number of new slots in State Preschool Programs that meet the definition of High-Quality Preschool Programs, and ambitious improvement of existing State Preschool Program slots to bring them to the level of a High-Quality Preschool Program by extending programs from half-day to full-day, limiting class size and decreasing child to staff ratios, employing and compensating a teacher with a Bachelor’s degree, providing in-service, evidence-based professional development such as coaching, or providing comprehensive services.

Applicants may receive up to the full 12 points if they address only D4b1or D4b2 or if they address both D4b1 and D4b2, they would receive the same number of 12 points. So any combination of new and improved slots is acceptable and will be up to the State.

Just to repeat the mistake that I made earlier, I want to repeat that the sub-granting must be -- 95% of the funds must go through a Subgrantee or Subgrantees in two or more High-Need Communities.

And finally, as part of Selection Criterion D, the State will present its plan for sustainability, which is also addressed in the budget Selection Criterion G. The State will describe in its application how the State, in coordination with each Subgrantee, intends to sustain High-Quality Preschool Programs after the grant period, including any non-Federal support the State or each Subgrantee commits to contribute.

This slide shows us the evidence required for Selection Criterion D. States should submit a letter of support or Preliminary Binding Agreement, such as a preliminary MOU from each identified Subgrantee, attesting to the Subgrantee's participation. Other evidence is entered into Table A and Table D4 on the Excel spreadsheet.

Here are the instructions for Table D4. The information on improved slots will be transferred to Table A. Remember, there are five ways in which a State may use funds to improve State preschool slots: extending programs from half-day to full-day; limiting class size and decreasing child-to-staff ratios; employing and compensating a teacher with a Bachelor's degree; providing in-service, evidence-based professional development, such as coaching; or providing comprehensive services.

The instructions for completing Table D4 can be found in the first tab of the Excel spreadsheets. In consultation with Subgrantees, States should provide information on the way they plan to improve slots, and the estimated cost associated with the improvement.

For each Subgrantee you will fill out how the slots will be improved each year, how many children will be served, and the total estimated cost. Leave any unneeded rows blank, and add additional rows as needed. To do so, follow the directions provided if you are unfamiliar with Excel.

In line 3A you will fill out the total Eligible Children for each year. These are based on estimates. Next you will fill out 3B with the number of Eligible Children served in new preschool slots, and 3C for the per-pupil expenditure or per-pupil expenditure for each slot, 3D for the estimated cost, and 3E for the percent of Eligible Children served in new preschool slots will be calculated for you. The estimated cost should roughly correspond to the amount your State has available for new preschool slots, for each year, and in total, which is also shown in 2H in the green Total section in Part II.

Next, fill out 3F for the children served in improved preschool slots, and 3G for the per-pupil expenditure or per-pupil expenditure for each slot. These numbers should be based on averages across all the different ways you plan to improve preschool slots. In addition, they should be based on the evidence presented in your narrative, 3H or the estimated cost, and 3I or the percent of Eligible Children served in improved preschool slots will be calculated for you. The estimated cost should roughly correspond to the amount your State has available for improved preschool slots for each year and in total, which is also shown in line 2I in the green Total section in Part II.

So we know we've giving you a lot of information, and we appreciate your attention to this point. What we will do now is take a brief, five-minute break, and we will come back in five minutes to answer a few questions, and also to resume the presentation.

**Chrisanne Gayl:** Okay. Thank you very much folks for waiting. We have received a number of questions, and we like to go over a few of those now. We will also get two additional questions at the end of the webinar.

The first question is, "If a State has won an RTT-ELC grant, but currently only provides preschool to a small percentage of eligible preschoolers, will the slots created through this grant be considered de facto new slots?"

Yes. If you are creating some new slots to serve children in addition to the 1% of kids that are currently served, those would be considered new preschool slots.

Another question that we received was about teacher salaries: "Must the teacher's compensation have comparable benefits?"

We have received other questions, as well, regarding teacher salaries, and for this, the State must justify how the teachers' salaries would be comparable, and include that in their ambitious and achievable plan, but we do not require whether or not that be hourly or annually, and we don't talk about benefits. That's something the State must have to justify as part of their plan.

Another question was regarding the 5% of total funds over the grant period that could be used for State-level infrastructure, and whether or not State administrative expenses to oversee the grant could be included in that. Yes. State administrative expenses can be included, and if you look at C1, that will give you some examples of allowable cost for the 5%.

We've also received a number of questions about what constitutes a new slot, and what constitutes an improved slot.

When you're looking at improved slots, you must be looking at current or existing State preschool program slots. So for example, if you're looking at a Head Start slot, that's not a State-funded preschool slot.  And there are only certain ways that you can improved existing State-funded preschool slots. Those are outlined in the notice inviting application, under Section D2, and those include things like going from a half-day to a full-day, limiting class size, decreasing child-to-staff ratios, employing and compensating a teacher with a Bachelor's degree, providing in-service professional development, such as coaching, or providing comprehensive services.  And again, that must apply to a State-funded preschool slot. If you're going to make improvements to a Head Start slot, that would count as a new preschool slot.

Another question that we received: "Can new local investments in State preschool that begin in September 2014 be counted towards a match?"

Yes. They can be counted towards the match, as long as they are new, and these would be additional investments from what has previously been allocated, either at the local or at the State level.

We did get a question regarding the mix of community agencies and LEAs, and whether or not there was a specific required mix, relative to the expansion of improve slots, and no, there is no required mix of Early Learning Providers as part of the grant. A State can determine the types of Early Learning Providers that they wish, as part of their ambitious and achievable plan.

In terms of the State match, we have a question: "Does that count, State funds actually being given to Subgrantees, or is that match of State funding to our entire Early Childhood System?"

And it's actually the latter. You want to look at FAQs F1 and F11 for more information on the match, and in particular, F10 clarifies that the match does not need to conform to the 95% breakdown.  And again, matching funds can be State funds, local funds, and philanthropic funds. They don't just have to be made up of State funds.

We also received another question regarding Table B, about the number of four-year-old children in the State, as well as the number of four-year-old children below 200% of poverty, and what data source to use.

For the number of four-year-old children below 200% of poverty, and the number of four-year-old children in the State, you should be able to use census data. We also do ask for the number of four-year-olds below 200% of poverty that are served in the State preschool program currently, and we ask you to use information that you collected at the State level for that information, and if you don't have specific data related to children at the 200% of poverty level that are enrolled, that you do your best and provide your best estimates.

Another question concerns the budget and whether the entire four-year budget would, if it were to add up to, for example, $50 million, whether or not a State would have to, each year, allocate $12.5 million.

It's important to note here that in this budget section, when you're filling out the table, you do want to budget based on the four-year trajectory of funding, and you must comply with the annual budget cap for each year, and you must plan on spending all of your funds, every year.

We did receive a question regarding scoring and whether or not reviewers will give only points based on whole numbers.

Yes, they will be instructed to provide scores in whole numbers.

I think for now we'll go ahead and stop there, and we'll be happy to answer additional questions at the end of the webinar that we have received along the way. So at this time I'd like to pass it over to my colleague at the U.S. Department of Education, Steven Hicks.

**Steven Hicks:** Thank you, Chrisanne. I'm going to start with Selection Criterion E. Selection Criterion E is collaborating with each Subgrantee and ensuring strong partnerships. This Criterion is worth 50 points, and there are ten sub-criteria.

Applications will be evaluated on the extent to which the State has an ambitious and achievable plan to ensure that each Subgrantee is effectively implementing High-Quality Preschool Programs, including a description of: 

(1) the roles and responsibilities of the State and Subgrantee in implementing the project plan;

(2) how the State plans to implement High-Quality Preschool Programs, including the organizational capacity and existing infrastructure of the Subgrantee to provide High-Quality Preschool Programs, either directly or indirectly through an Early Learning Provider or Providers, and coordinate the delivery of High-Quality Preschool Programs. Also, the stable need to include; 

(3) how the State will ensure that each Subgrantee minimizes local administrative costs; 

(4) how the State and Subgrantee will monitor the Early Learning Providers to ensure they are delivering High-Quality Preschool Programs; 

(5) how the State and the Subgrantee will coordinate plans related to assessments, data sharing, instructional tools, family engagement, cross-sector and comprehensive services efforts, professional development, and workforce and leadership development. The State will also include a description of:

(6) how the State and Subgrantee will coordinate, but not supplant, the delivery of High-Quality Preschool Programs funded under this grant with existing services for preschool-aged children including, if applicable, State Preschool Programs and programs and services supported through Title I of the ESEA, that's the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, part C in section 619 of part B of IDEA, that's Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, subtitle 7B of the McKinney-Vento Act, the Head Start Act, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act. The State will also provide a description of:

(7) how the Subgrantee will integrate, to the extent practicable, High-Quality Preschool Programs for Eligible Children within economically diverse, inclusive settings, including those that serve children from families with incomes above 200 % of the Federal Poverty Line. 

The State will also describe how the Subgrantee will deliver High-Quality Preschool Programs to Eligible Children, including Eligible Children who may be in need of additional supports, such as those who have disabilities or developmental delays; who are English learners; who reside on Indian lands as that term is defined by section 80137 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; who are migrant; who are homeless, as defined in subtitle 7B of the McKinney-Vento Act; who are in the child welfare system; who reside in rural or tribal areas; who are from military families; and other children as identified by the State.

Also, the State will describe how the State will ensure the Subgrantee implements culturally- and linguistically-responsive outreach and communication efforts to enroll children from families with Eligible Children, including isolated or hard-to-reach families, helps families build protective factors, and engages parents and families, for example, builds capacity to support children’s learning and development, as decision-makers in their children’s education. 

Finally, States will describe how the State will ensure strong partnerships between each Subgrantee and LEAs or other Early Learning Providers, as appropriate, including a description of how the State will ensure that each Subgrantee partners with LEAs or other Early Learning Providers, as appropriate, to carry out activities that provide children and their families with successful transitions from preschool into kindergarten, and coordinates and collaborates with LEAs or other Early Learning Providers, as appropriate, in: 

(1) providing opportunities for early educators to participate in professional development on early learning and kindergarten standards, assessments, curricula, and culturally- and linguistically-responsive strategies to help families build protective factors, build parents’ capacity to support their children’s learning and development, and engage parents as decision-makers in their children’s education; also:

(2) provide family engagement, support, nutrition, and other Comprehensive Services and coordinating with other community partners to ensure families’ access to needed supports; 

(3) supporting full inclusion of Eligible Children with Disabilities and developmental delays to ensure access to and full participation in the High-Quality Preschool Program; 

(4) supporting the inclusion of children who may be in need of additional supports, such as children who are English learners; who reside on Indian lands as that term is defined by section 80137 of the ESEA; who are migrant, who are homeless, as defined in subtitle 7B of the McKinney-Vento Act; who are in the child welfare system; who reside in rural areas; who are from military families; and other children as identified by the State; 

(5) ensuring that High-Quality Preschool Programs have age-appropriate facilities to meet the needs of Eligible Children; 

(6) developing and implementing a systematic procedure for sharing data and other records consistent with Federal and State law; and 

(7) utilizing community-based learning resources, such as libraries, arts and arts education programs, and family literacy programs.

There is no specific evidence asked for here in Selection Criterion E. So applicants can provide any supporting evidence the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers.

Selection Criterion F is about alignment within a birth through third grade continuum. This has two sections, birth through age-five, and K through third grade, but it should be seen as a continuum of birth through third grade. Applications will be evaluated on the extent to which the State has an ambitious and achievable plan to align High-Quality Preschool Programs supported by this grant with programs and systems that serve children from birth through third grade, among other things, improve transitions for children across this continuum.

First, for birth through age-five programs, these activities include coordinating with other early education and care programs and child care family service providers, supported through Federal, State, and local resources, to build a strong continuum of learning for children from birth through age-five and their families that expands families’ choices, facilitates or improves their access to programs and supports in their own communities, and engages all families with Eligible Children, including isolated or hard-to-reach families that might not otherwise participate; and these activities should include ensuring that the provision of High-Quality Preschool Programs will not lead to a diminution of other services or increased cost to families for programs serving children from birth through age five. 

For kindergarten through third grade, these activities may include ensuring that Eligible Children are well-prepared for kindergarten, sustaining the educational and developmental gains of Eligible Children by promoting collaboration between preschool and kindergarten teachers, expanding access to full-day kindergarten, and increasing the percentage of children who are able to read and do math at grade level by the end of third grade. 

These activities may also include sustaining a high level of parent and family engagement as children move from High-Quality Preschool Programs into the early elementary school years; taking steps, or building upon the steps it has taken, to align, at a minimum, child learning standards and expectations; teacher preparation, credentials, and workforce competencies; comprehensive early learning assessment systems; data systems; and family engagement strategies. 

Again, States may provide any supporting evidence the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers, but in Selection Criterion F, we have not listed any specific evidence.

Selection Criterion G is Budget and Sustainability. Reviewers will evaluate applications based on the extent to which the budget narrative and Budget Tables demonstrate that the State will use funds from this grant and any matching contributions to serve the number of children described in its ambitious and achievable plan for each year, including using the funds for the projected per-child costs for new and improved State Preschool Program slots that are reasonable and sufficient, and that the projected per-child costs for new and improved State Preschool Program slots are reasonable and sufficient to ensure High-Quality Preschool Programs.

Also, the State will demonstrate how it will coordinate the use of existing funds from Federal sources that support early learning and development, such as Title I of the ESEA, Part C and section 619 of Part B of IDEA, subtitle 7B of the McKinney-Vento Act, the Head Start Act, and the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, and State, private, local, foundation, or other private funding sources for activities and services that help expand High-Quality Preschool Programs; and the State will demonstrate, in its application, how it will sustain the High-Quality Preschool Programs supported by this grant after the grant period ends, to ensure that the number and percentage of Eligible Children with access to High-Quality Preschool Programs in the State will be maintained or expanded, including to additional High-Need Communities.

The evidence for Selection Criterion G is in the budget narrative and the tables found in the Excel spreadsheets, and any other supporting evidence the State believes will be helpful to peer reviewers. The State should use its budgets and budget narratives to provide a detailed description of how it plans to use Federal preschool development grant funds and funds from other sources, Federal, State, private and local, for example, to support projects under the State's plan.

State’s Budget Tables and narratives, when taken together, should also address the specific elements of the Selection Criterion, including by describing how the State will effectively and efficiently use funding from this grant to achieve the outcomes in the State’s plan, and do so in a manner that is adequate to support the activities described in the State's plan, includes costs that are reasonable and necessary in relation to the objectives, design and significance of the activities described in the State's plan and the number and percent of children to be served, and details the amount of funds budgeted for Subgrantees or other partners, and the specific activities to be implemented with these funds, consistent with the State's plan, and demonstrates that a significant amount of funding will be devoted to the local implementation of the State's plan. The budget narrative should be sufficient in scope and detail for the Departments to determine if the costs are necessary, reasonable and allowable.

The following information must be included in the State's budget. First is the budget summaries. In this section, the State provides the overall budget summary information by budget category, Subgrantee and project. Budget Table 1, Budget Summary by Budget Category, is the Budget Table tab in the Excel spreadsheets. This is the cover sheet for the budget. States should complete this table as the final step in their budget process, and include this table as the first page of the State's budget.

Second is the budget narrative. In this section, the State describes the overall structure of the State's budget for implementing the State's plan, including, for each project, the designation of the selection criteria or Competitive Preference Priority the project addresses; an explanation of how the project will be organized and managed in order to ensure the implementation of the State's plans described in the Selection Criteria or Competitive Preference Priorities, and any information pertinent to understanding the proposed budget for each project.

This next piece of information is very important to your application. On page 41 of the application package, it states: "Attention: These ED budget forms do not need to be completed, as we will capture this information in the Excel spreadsheets under Part V - Other Attachments Form. Please note that in order to submit your application, you must enter either N/A or the number zero."

You are probably familiar with the standard budget forms. Ours is a bit different. So instead of the budget form on Grants.gov, we will capture this information in the Excel spreadsheets under the tab labeled "Budget Table." You will provide this in the Excel spreadsheets, which you upload in your application.

Now we are going to go over some other pieces of the application: Competitive Priorities; application requirements and budget requirements.

There are three Competitive Preference Priorities where applicants may earn additional points if they choose to address them. The first Competitive Preference Priority is for matching funds, which may include State, local and philanthropic funds. States that commit to matching 50% of Federal funds will be eligible for up to the maximum amount of points, which is 10, and applicants that match less than 50% will be eligible to receive points based on a sliding scale. Note that the applicant must submit evidence of a credible plan in order to receive points.

In the Excel spreadsheets, applicants will find the Table, Competitive Priority 1 Table, to calculate the match. The instructions tab has directions for completing this table. For FY 2014 investment, above last year's investment, fill out the total matching funds provided by the State in FY 2014. Do not enter funds under local, philanthropic or other in this column.

For years 1-4 fill out the expected amount of matching funds coming from State, local, philanthropic and other sources. The totals for each year will self-populate. You cannot edit the cells in the Overall Match line.

Finally, the last line serves to check that the numbers in this Table are the same as those entered in the master table, or Table A. Sometimes we refer to Table A as the master table. If they are the same, the cell below, the total will read "Correct." If there is a problem, it will read "Please Verify Numbers." Before moving on, please make sure all the cells are correct.

In Table A Part II, information about any matching funds should be inserted. Again, step-by-step instructions have been provided. For each year, fill out the expected matching funds allocated for lines 2A, which is the State-level infrastructure; 2C, which is the new preschool slots and 2D, which is improved preschool slots. 

Cumulative State-level infrastructure need not be 5% of the total matching funds, as that limit only applies to Federal funds.

For line 2E, which is the State matching funds, fill out the 2014 State matching funds, if any, which are only the increases, the increases, in State appropriation for FY 2014 over the previous year, and not the total funds spent in FY 2014.

Finally, the green Total sectioning, containing lines 2F through 2J will self-populate using information from Part I and Part II, and is there for your reference.

In the second Competitive Preference Priority, and applicant could earn up to 10 competitive preference points for supporting a birth through third grade continuum, by demonstrating how it will integrate High-Quality Preschool Programs within a broader continuum of support and interventions for, at a minimum, a defined cohort of Eligible Children within each High-Need Community. The State must describe how it will foster partnerships and leverage resources from existing community agencies that provide early childhood services, and how it will ensure smooth transitions for children and families. 

Note that this is different from Selection Criterion F. This priority is focused on supports and interventions for, at a minimum, a defined cohort of Eligible Children within each High-Need Community.

In the third and final Competitive Preference Priority, and applicant could earn zero or 10 points, based on whether a State proposes to use at least 50% of its Federal grant award to create new State preschool program slots, increasing the overall number of new slots in a State preschool program meeting the definition of High-Quality Preschool Programs.

As a reminder, application requirements list the elements that must be included in a complete application. The application must be signed by the Governor or authorized representative and the Lead Agency. A letter of support from the State Advisory Council, or similar Council, must be included.

A budget narrative that details how these and other funds will be used to achieve the goals and targets must be included in the application, along with the completed Excel spreadsheets.

The statements provide for each Selection Criterion or priority in this notice that elicits an ambitious and achievable plan, a description of the eight elements we discussed earlier: key goals; key activities; a realistic timeline; the party or parties responsible for each activity, with key personnel; financial resources to support and sustain the plan; supporting evidence; information requested for performance measure, where applicable, and how the State will address the needs of Eligible Children, including those needing additional supports.

The statements provide a letter of support or Preliminary Binding Agreements, such as a preliminary MOU from each Subgrantee, attesting to the Subgrantee's participation. If you look in Appendix B, you'll find a model MOU.  This is in Appendix B of the application.

Program Requirements, remember, specify what applicants must do if they win a grant, for example, reporting, participating in technical assistance activities, publishing findings. Program Requirements must be met during the four-year period of the grant.

The State must continue to participate in the early childhood programs listed here: IDEA, CCDF, Section 418 of the Social Security Act, Home Visiting, and McKinney-Vento.

Also under Program Requirements, States and Subgrantees must supplement, not supplant. States must participate in ED and HHS technical assistance activities, and the State and each Subgrantee must participate in any evaluation ED and HHS fund.

Under Program Requirements, the State and Subgrantees must comply with privacy laws and applicable Federal, State and local laws. The State and each Subgrantee must provide researchers with access to available data regarding the enrollment and school readiness of Eligible Children in State preschool programs.

Under Program Requirements, work developed under this grant must be freely available to the public. The State must have a Statewide Longitudinal Data System that links early childhood data with the State's kindergarten through grade twelve data system by the end of the grant period, and the State must ensure that the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care includes the State's CCDS Administrator, State agency coordinators from both Part C and Section 619 of Part B of IDEA, the State Title I Director, the State Coordinator of Education for Homeless Children and Youth, State agency representatives responsible for health and mental health, and parent representatives.

There is also a program requirement for serving Eligible Children with Disabilities. The State must establish policies and procedures that ensure, first, collaboration between each Subgrantee, and programs authorized by 619 of Part B of IDEA, so that Eligible Children with Disabilities in the high need community are being appropriately identified and serve in the least restrictive environment. They must also ensure that the percentage of Eligible Children with Disabilities served by the High-Quality Preschool Programs is not less than either the percentage of four-year-old children served Statewide, through Part B of Section 619 of IDEA, or the current national average, whichever is greater. The current national average percentage right now is 6.4%, and there is a prohibition on spending funds, including matching funds, on construction, renovation, modernization or related services.

You'll notice in Program Requirement K we have another defined term here: Eligible Children with Disabilities. This defined term, Eligible Children with Disabilities, means Eligible Children who have been determined by the local educational agency to be eligible for special education and related services under Section 619 of the IDEA. In the notice, the entire phrase should have been capitalize, per our convention of capitalizing all defined terms. You'll notice in error here in the Notice Inviting Application, and the applications, and that we mistakenly did not the word "disabilities," but it should be capitalized, as Eligible Children with Disabilities is a defined term.

Two additional Program Requirements: M and N. Funds for improving slots must be limited to the five we discussed: extending programs from half-day to full day; limiting class-size and decreasing child-to-staff ratios; employing and compensating a teacher with a Bachelor's degree; providing in-service, evidence-based professional development such as coaching, or providing comprehensive services. 

Note in Program Requirement N that MOUs are due within 90 days of receipt of an award.

Program requirement O requires that scopes of work from the State and each Subgrantee are due within 90 days.

A little bit about submitting your application. You may access the electronic grant application for Preschool Development Grants, Expansion Grants, at www.Grants.gov. Search for the downloadable application package for the competition by the CFDA number. This is actually incorrect them your slide. It should be 84.419B.

The Grants.gov site has information about submitting an application electronically through the site, as well as the hours of operation.

Applications received by Grants.gov are date and time stamped. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted and must be date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than 4:30 p.m., Washington, D.C. time, on October 14th of this year.

The amount of time it can take to upload an application will vary, depending upon a variety of factors, including the size of the application and the speed of your Internet connection. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline date to begin the submission process through Grants.gov. You must submit all documents electronically, including all information you typically provide on the following forms: the Application for Federal Assistance, the Department of Education Supplemental Information for SF 424, Budget Information, Non-Construction Programs and all necessary assurances and certifications. 

You must upload any narrative sections and all other attachments to your application as files in a PDF, read-only, non-modifiable format. Do not upload an interactive or fillable PDF file. If you upload a file type other than the read-only, non-modifiable PDF or submit a password-protected file, we will not review that material. 

Additionally, detailed information on how to attach files is in the application instructions. The Excel spreadsheets should be uploaded in Excel. Again, the Excel spreadsheets should be uploaded in Excel, not PDFs.

After you electronically submit your application, you will receive from Grants.gov an automatic notification of receipt that contains a Grants.gov tracking number. This notification indicates receipt by Grants.gov only, not a receipt from the Departments. The Departments then will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send a second notification to you by email. This second notification indicates that the Departments have received your application and have assigned your application a PR award number. This is a specific identifying number, unique to your application.

If you experience problems submitting your application to Grants.gov, please contact the Grants.gov support desk, toll-free at 1-800-518-4726. You must obtain a Grants.gov support desk case number, and must keep a record of it. If for some reason you are prevented from electronically submitting your application on the application date because of technical problems with the Grants.gov system, and you receive a Grants.gov support desk case number, Grants.gov will grant you an extension until 4:30 p.m., Washington D.C. time, the following business day, to enable you to transmit your application electronically or by hand delivery. Note that we have posted on our Preschool Development Grants website a document that explains all of these instructions that I've just gone over for submitting through Grants.gov, to help you in your submission process.

Before closing, we want to share with you a bit of the timeline. We are hoping that States and communities will seize this opportunity to begin thinking of forming their partnerships and drafting their applications. States have 60 days from the time we posted our applications on the ED.gov website to write their applications and submit them by October 14th. We have tried to allow for the maximum possible time for States to write their applications, but it would be good to begin the writing process early. We also want to remind you, please register early for Grants.gov. 

Applicants are reminded that they should submit their applications a day or two in advance of the closing date, as detailed in the Federal Register notice. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please email the Grants.gov contact center at Support@Grants.gov, or call 1-800-518-4726, and please do submit your Intent to Apply by September 11th, so that we can properly plan for the competition. There will be directions explaining how to provide your Intent to Apply in the Notice Inviting Applications.

We want to thank you for joining us today. Here's important contact information on where to make comments and how to contact us through email. For those of you who have submitted comments, we're going to see if we can address, again, a few of those now. Others we may consider in additional guidance that we provide, and now I'm going to turn it back over to Chrisanne Gayl and Richard Gonzales at the Department.

**Chrisanne Gayl:** Thanks so much, Steven. We've received a number of questions throughout the course of this webinar, so we will do our best to try to get answers to those. Let me just go ahead and start right off.

One question that came in was, "The NIA seems to indicate that communities are identified as part of the grant submission. Is an option to describe the process for procuring Subgrantees in High-Need Communities, if awarded the funding, is that acceptable?"

If you look under section D1, States need to have selected their Subgrantees and their High-Need Communities by the time of application. If you look at FAQ E7, you must submit evidence through a preliminary MOU or letter of support, but remember that you must comply with your State and local procurement rules as well. So yes, you do have to have identified and selected your Subgrantees and your High-Need Communities by the time of application. You cannot wait.

Another question: "Can 5% of funds that are used for State infrastructure to be used to support funded preschool programs participation in the State's QRIS?"

The answer is yes. If you look at C1, it gives some examples of how the 5% can be spent, and it can be spent on supporting the QRIS.

Another question on Eligible Children: "Can children who live in Title I zone schools be considered eligible, even if their family income does not meet the 200% criteria, but they live in the area that serves all families living in the school zone?"

The answer is no. They must meet the definition of Eligible Children. Each child must meet the definition of Eligible Children. If you are using Preschool Development Grants, funds, to support, but you can have mixed classrooms or mixed-age classrooms, mixed-income classrooms, but only if the funds that are through the Preschool Development Grant program can support Eligible Children. So four-year-old children who are from families at 200% of poverty or below. Other types of funding sources would need to support those children who are above 200% of poverty or who are not four years old. 

Another question on High-Need Communities, and let's see, "67 of our high need communities have what we call School Readiness Councils. State pre-K funds go to those councils, who then decide where the slots will be located. Some choose only LEAs; some choose community agencies; some choose a mix of agencies. Can we consider one or more School Readiness Councils to be Subgrantees for the purposes of this grant?"

First, we can't answer specific State questions, but I would recommend that you look at the definition of Early Learning Provider Subgrantee, in the FAQs under B20, 21 and 22, and you'll note that the definition of early learning provider is very broad and encompasses a range of different types of entities.

A question about Table B, "Are the numbers needed based on the entire State program, or just the Subgrantees?"

That table is based on the entire State.

Another question on KEA, "Does KEA have to be available by the second year of the grant in order to assess the readiness of the first year of children?"

The answer is no, and I would refer you to FAQ B24. We do use the example of the KEA as one way to assess the school readiness of children, but a KEA is not required.

Another question: "Do all of the children in the preschool classroom need to be 200% of the Federal poverty level or below, or can the group be mixed?"

Again, the answer to that is, it can be mixed; although all the children that are supported by preschool development grant funds must be Eligible Children. So they must be four-year-olds from families at 200% of poverty or below.

"Is the commitment to sustainability applicable only to the Subgrantees or Statewide?"

The answer is that it's applicable only to the Subgrantees.

There's a question on match, whether it needs to be in kind, whether it needs to be in cash or if it can be in kind.

It can be in kind, and I'd refer you to FAQs F4, F5 and F7 for more information there.

"Do administrative dollars for use by the Subgrantees come from the 95% or from the 5% for the infrastructure?"

Administration for the Subgrantees would come from the 95% that would be allocated to Subgrantees, and a reference for that would be FAQ E1.

I have a specific question related to a State about a new funding formula to distribute their pre-K appropriations in the State budget. We can't answer specific questions, obviously, related to States, but in reference to the question that we received on that, we would refer you to FAQ F1 through F11. All of those FAQs in section F are related to match, and specifically if you look at the amount of State money that can count toward the match, it must be increased State funding. So you can't funding that you've been using all along to support a preschool program as part of your match. It needs to be increased State funding.

Question: "Can non-eligible students be served in the same pre-kindergarten classroom as eligible students?"

Yes, as we described before.

"Do matching funds have to match the eligible students served, or can it be a State preschool match?"

The answer to this is no. It can't be just a State preschool match, and we direct you to F10 in the FAQs, also F11. Matching funds can only be spent on allowable costs, and that means the match must also be for Eligible Children.

"Can State pre-K funds that are already claimed for our CCDF match also be claimed as match under this grant?"

We would recommend reading 34 CFR 80.24 in more detail, but in short, you can't count the same funds as satisfying the match requirements for two different Federal requirements.

"The budget indicates that States are allowed to take indirect costs. Are those indirect costs counted against the 5% State infrastructure provision?"

Here we would refer you to E8 and E9 in our FAQs, and also note that you can take indirect costs off the top of your grant award before you make the 95%/5% flip.

Next question: "In the Competitive Preference Table, do you want all State dollars currently allocated to our State pre-K program, or only new funds allocated in 2014?"

And again, in that particular table, when were looking at the match of State pre-K investment, it’s only for increased State pre-K program funds in 2014.

We have a question on annual narratives and reports, whether or not those will be required.

Yes, we will be requiring.  You will need to have to submit an annual report as part of the process.

I'm going to hand it over to Richard for the moment. He has a couple of additional questions.

**Richard Gonzales:** So the question received was, "Am I correct in understanding that for the Expansion Grant, purchasing curriculum is not allowable for an existing slot, but is allowable for a new slot?"

That is correct. Purchasing curriculum is not allowable for existing slots, for improving slots. It is allowable for a new slot, but it also must be reasonable and necessary, and just as a reminder, those items which can be used for improving slots have to do with extending programs from half-day to full-day, limiting class size and decreasing child-to-staff ratios, employing and compensating a teacher with a Bachelor's degree, providing in-service, evidence-based professional development such as coaching, or providing comprehensive services.

Another question that was asked is, "If distance-learning technology, such as videoconferencing or mobile device technologies, such as iPads, is that an allowable expense, and if it is allowable, are there restrictions on the amount that can be spent on these devices?"

So it must relate to your plan and be reasonable and necessary for accomplishing your plan. So you're required to explain, if this were to be an expense, why you believe it is reasonable and necessary for accomplishing your plan. You want to look at FAQs E1 and E2 for more information on allowable costs for new and improved slots.

**Chrisanne Gayl:** Okay. A couple of additional questions. "So children with disabilities must be eligible in two categories, disabilities and 200% of poverty?"

In order to be an eligible child with a disability, yes, they must meet both of those categories.

Next question: "Does every classroom have to be a mixed-delivery model, or is it just a State plan that needs to be a mixed-delivery model?"

Here I would say that the State is the one who determines its Subgrantees and who they will be. There's no specific requirement that the State must choose a mixed-delivery model, but it's something that we certainly encourage.

Next question: "By creating new High-Quality Preschool Programs in existing Head Start and childcare sites, are these programs then considered High-Quality State preschool programs as well as by their current designation, Head Start or community childcare? Can these grant funds supplement existing funding of these programs to ensure designation as a new high quality State preschool program?"

That's a little bit of a complicated question. The way that I would answer it would be to say, and I think that we will be providing additional guidance on this through an additional FAQ, but if it is a Head Start Program currently, or a childcare site currently, and you're using preschool development grant funds to improve or enhance, in some way, those particular programs, they would be counted as new preschool program slots, and as new State-funded preschool program slots.  But I would definitely encourage you to look at additional guidance that we'll be providing around this particular issue.

We have a couple of other question that have come in prior to this webinar that I'll just take a moment on a couple of those, what we think are important to answer. One has to do with, "Can States allocate a higher per-child allocation for pre-K slots offered in community-based settings, in order to incentivize school Districts to offer pre-K in those settings?"

The State will be the one to propose a plan that best meets the needs of the high-need communities, and the program will not have a set reimbursement rate. The State should submit a credible plan, and the cost must be reasonable and necessary.

At this point I think we're going to go ahead and wrap up. If you have submitted additional questions that we have not answered on today's call, we will be sure to respond to you regarding that, but at this point I'd like to turn it back to Dr. Libby Doggett

**Libby:** Thank you so much Chrisanne and Richard and Steven and the whole team here for getting the questions to us and getting the answers, and thank each of you for listening to a long and complicated and complex webinar. We are here to help you. We want to answer your questions, so keep them coming, and we'll try to find some other ways to assist you as you go through the process of figuring out how you're going to respond to this. We're very, very excited to have so many States interested, and hope that we can maintain that interest and help you as you complete it.

So I hope everybody has a good day and a good week. Thank you very much.

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