Gearing Up for SAFE Grant Cycle 2 – Compliance Report Due Jan 31, 2024

Gearing Up for SAFE Grant Cycle 2 – Compliance Report Due Jan 31, 2024

January 22, 2024 | Grants Management

The SAFE Grant Cycle 1 grant is yet to be due on Jan 26, 2024, and the few who applied early are just starting to receive their NOGAs. To make matters more confusing, TEA is gearing up for the next grant called SAFE Grant Cycle 2. SAFE grant Cycle 1 was for charters that still had not completed minimum standards for facilities and school hardening (you might not have taken that grant if you were in compliance with all mandatory school safety standards). Cycle 2 will be a formula grant for everyone and may finally allow pay for safety personnel where the other safety grants didn’t. CSS advises every LEA to apply for the SAFE Cycle 2 grant! Therefore, completing the Compliance Report by January 31, 2024, is imperative.

CSS helps clarify the multiple funding grants for school safety, and assists our clients with planning, preparation, and submission of the safety grant applications.

Where do we locate the Compliance Assessment?

To be eligible for SAFE Grant Cycle 2, your charter must complete a compliance assessment by Jan 31, 2024. CSS does not have access to a copy of the compliance assessment, but we know that it can be accessed through the Intruder Detection Audit Dashboard (IDA Dashboard) . Your SSSP Contact listed in AskTED and your Superintendent should have received information. Please note that the Compliance Assessment due this month is separate from the SSSP submissions that are typically done in June! It is also completely unrelated to the FY23 School Safety Allotment Data Collection that is a Qualtrics survey that is due Feb 12, 2024 (based on funding in the summary of finances non-grant safety funding for the 2022-23 school year).

The website to access the IDA Dashboard is https://ida.esc11.net. The Superintendent and designated SSSP contact would have log on credentials to this website. They can also log on and add additional users.

Why is the Compliance Assessment Necessary?

TEA intends to use the Compliance Assessment results to finalize Cycle 1 (funds that haven’t even been spent or maybe even arrived yet) and use the data to redistribute cycle 1 money to cycle 2. If you report that you are in full compliance with the minimum school safety standards, it will lock you in to this answer! Cycle 2 must first be used to finish minimum standards, and then additional safety activities will be allowable (possibly including safety personnel, but they have not finalized that announcement yet).

Other Important Info

  • The SAFE Grant Cycle 2 is scheduled to open Feb 15 and be due March 15, 2024. (Consider Spring Break.)
  • Pre-award of expenses will be allowed back to June 1, 2022 (if not covered by previous grants).
  • Training for SAFE Grant Cycle 2 was held Jan 9-11. The training presentation is not available on the TEA School Safety Resources Webpage at this time.
  • Beginning Feb 1st, the safe school division is supposed to begin having office hours every Tuesday from 11 AM -12 PM.
  • For questions, please email safeschools@tea.texas.gov

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