Section 265.110  Program Specifications

a)         Planning grant funds shall be used for the purpose of developing specific plans for initiating, strengthening, or expanding instruction in the fine arts or in foreign language.  The goal of each planning grant shall be to assist applicants with measuring the effectiveness of their existing arts education or foreign language program, identifying areas for improvement, and establishing a realistic timeline and budget for improving arts education or foreign language instruction.  As part of the planning process, grant recipients shall identify the necessary components of an instructional program to be added or enhanced and the human, financial, and other resources that will be necessary in order to incorporate these components into the affected schools' curriculum and sustain them when State funding is no longer available.

b)         Each planning effort shall consist of a comprehensive, district-based program planning process relating to either the fine arts or foreign language.  The planning process shall include not only school administrators, teachers, and other relevant staff members, but also parents, students, and community-based organizations with an interest in fostering the availability of fine arts or foreign language programming, as applicable.

c)         Grant funds awarded under this Subpart B may be used to offset the costs of district staff members' time, the time of other individuals who are demonstrably involved in the planning process, and other related expenditures such as supplies and materials, communications, travel expenses, and meeting space rental.  Expenditures related to the implementation of instructional programs shall not be allowable as part of these planning grants, and no more than five percent of planning grant funds shall be used for general administrative expenses.

d)         Each grantee shall be required to prepare a written plan that identifies programmatic goals and objectives developed through analysis of the district's curricular needs and that describes the grantee's approach to allocating district resources and securing other external support in order to meet those needs in a program that can be sustained over time.

e)         Planning grants shall be issued for one fiscal year each and shall not be renewed.