Section 75.250  Application Procedure

The grant application is a measure of the components of a high-quality agricultural education program that the applicant currently has in place, and it is intended to help the applicant identify areas in which the program can be enhanced and improved. 

a)         The State Superintendent of Education shall provide the electronic application format for the agricultural education incentive grant. 

b)         The application shall be completed by the applicant's agricultural education teachers and submitted to the State Board of Education's Division of Career and Technical Education no later than July 15.  The application shall contain:

1)         an indication of the applicant's achievement, in the year previous to the year for which funding is requested, of one or more of the minimum standards and of one or more of the accompanying quality indicators for the minimum standard achieved;

2)         evidence or other documentation of the applicant's achievement of any standard or quality indicator, which shall be kept on file and provided to the staff of the State Board of Education's Division of Career and Technical Education upon request; and

3)         such certifications, assurances, and program-specific terms of the grant as the State Superintendent may require (also see Section 75.260 of this Part).

c)         No later than October 15, the applicant shall submit to the Division of Career and Technical Education a budget description for the grant year that will be based either on the applicant's grant allocation or flat grant amount for programs in operation for two years or fewer.  (See Section 75.240 of this Part.)  The budget description shall at least list for each line item a detailed explanation of each expenditure. 

1)         Allowable expenditures include, but are not limited to, activities that support the improvement of instruction or program improvements (e.g., curriculum development, professional development, field support services, program coordination and pilot projects).  Mileage may be charged to the grant only for travel associated with supervised agricultural experience visits.  The rate of reimbursement will be specified in the application.

2)         Nonallowable expenditures include, but are not limited to, professional organization or union dues; college tuition; purchase of agricultural inputs (e.g., crop, animal); operation, maintenance, or repair costs of school laboratory machines and implements; utilities (e.g., heating, cooling, telephone); ordinary, non-specialized classroom furniture; and food and lodging. 

3)         No more than 50 percent of the applicant's allocation shall be expended for extended contracts (i.e., those that exceed nine months) or stipends, and no more than 10 percent of the allocation shall be expended for consumables.

d)         Applicants may be requested to clarify various aspects of their proposals.  The content of the approved proposal shall be incorporated into a grant agreement to be signed by the applicant's authorized representative and the State Superintendent of Education or designee.

(Source:  Added at 35 Ill. Reg. 16839, effective September 29, 2011)