Silent Panic Alert Technology (SPAT) Grant – Due Dec 12, 2022
Your school may have previously benefitted from the School Safety and Security grant that the State issued in an effort to prevent school violence. More safety funding is being made available with the SPAT Grant being due in the very near future. The SPAT grant is to purchase silent alert technology, and to be honest, for charter districts, the amounts do not seem likely to be enough to fund an entire system. However, if you already have budget plans to implement this type of technology, or have already purchased it this year, this grant could help you pay for it. The grant runs from 2022 to 2024, so it allows time for you to plan resources if you wish to take advantage of this funding.
Who is eligible to apply?
Public schools, including ISDs and open-enrollment charter schools, are eligible for funding. To view your funding amount on the entitlements page, click here. The grant is currently in your eGrants account. You should complete the ADC form indicating if your charter district will apply on your own, not apply, or apply as part of an SSA prior to December 12, 2022.
What are allowed activities of the grant?
The silent alert system can be part of a comprehensive school safety software system, but the grant requires that the system meets some specific requirements including:
- an alert capable of being triggered manually by campus staff;
- an alert is triggered automatically in the event a district employee calls 911 from any location within the school system;
- with any alert generated, the location of where the alert originated shall be included;
- the alert notifies a set of designated school administrators as needed to provide confirmation of response, and if confirmed, notice is issued to law enforcement and emergency responder agencies of an emergency situation requiring a law enforcement and/or emergency response, and a notice can simultaneously be issued to all school staff of the need to follow appropriate emergency procedures; and
- for any exterior doors that features electronic locking mechanisms that allow for remote locking, the alert system will trigger those doors to automatically lock and to automatically notify relevant campus staff of any door where the lock cannot engage.
Complete requirements can be found in the Allowable Costs section of the Program Guide. Recipients of the grant will have until June 30, 2024 to spend the grant funds.
Supplement, Not Supplant
For this state-funded grant (it is not federal), the traditional “supplement, not supplant” provisions do not apply. This means the grant can be used even if you paid for these items out of local/other funds in the past or had already budgeted for these items for 2022-23 before learning of the grant.
Pre-Award Costs
Did your district already purchase some of these items before hearing about the grant? Good news is that pre-award costs can be charged to this grant back to June 28, 2022. This would allow districts to journal expenses already on the books. You should consult your business office before including pre-award costs, especially when crossing previous budget years. Please note, the grant does allow for maintenance/service contracts of existing systems that meet the functionality listed above, or to bring systems up to that caliber. The SPAT grant may NOT be used for safety and security purchases that do not include a silent panic alert as a primary component.
The CSS Federal Team is available to assist our clients in all facets of preparing your grant application from on-site help with planning and filling out forms to providing feedback/proofing prior to submission!
Deadline
TEA must receive the application in eGrants by 5:00 PM Dec 12, 2022. For a sample copy of the grant, click here.
Need help?
Please contact Charter School Success:
Dr. Sheila K. Sherman: ssherman@charterschoolsuccess.com
Have questions?
Ask questions, get answers, and discuss this topic on the Charter School Community Roundtable now.