Supporting America's School Infrastructure Grant

In January 2024, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) is among the recipients of the Supporting America’s School Infrastructure (SASI) Grant Program. Through the SASI Grant, CDE will receive $4.99 million over a 5-year period toward improving and maintaining school facilities for California’s high-need local educational agencies (LEAs).

The intent of the grant is to support California’s high-need LEAs regarding their school building needs. The CDE defined a high-need LEA as a school district with:

1. enrollment under 2,500 pupils (2023/24 school year);
2. unduplicated count of pupils above 50%; and
3. no participation in the State School Facility Program (SFP) in the last 10 years (since 4/30/2014)

Under the Local Control Funding Formula, CDE defines unduplicated count of pupils as students who (1) are English learners, (2) meet income or categorical eligibility requirements for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program, or (3) are foster youth. “Unduplicated count” means that each pupil is counted only once even if the pupil meets more than one of these criteria (EC sections 2574[b][2] and 42238.02[b][1]).

Through the SASI Grant, the CDE will develop a system of support for LEAs through the following three components:

• Direct Technical Assistance
  • Provided by school facility professionals to select high-need LEA sites.
  • Assess facility needs, estimate costs, and prioritize projects.
  • Provide training on identifying funding options.
  • Provide technical assistance on developing various facility contracts (i.e., architect, testing, Inspector of Record, construction).

A selected number of high-need LEAs will receive direct technical assistance.

At this time, the CDE has not selected the high-need LEAs that will receive direct technical assistance. Over the life of the grant, it is estimated that approximately 165 school sites will be provided with the opportunity to participate in the Direct Technical Assistance Program. Currently, the CDE is developing a selection process and implementation schedule.

The federal grant funds are limited to providing technical assistance and creating resources to build capacity and not designed to provide funding to LEAs. The CDE is unable to directly allocate funding to address infrastructure projects on school sites.

• State and County Collaboration
  
  • Collaborate with facilities and maintenance staff at various County Offices of Education (COEs) to develop a network of facility practitioners to sustain ongoing support for high-need LEAs.
  • Quarterly convenings will be offered through the CDE and COEs which will be tailored to meet the needs of the challenges faced by high-need LEAs.
  • Partner with other state agencies to address the challenges of accessing state funding programs for districts with limited expertise/capacity.

CDE has engaged in discussions with multiple COEs to develop a program for quarterly convenings for the state and county collaboration component of the grant.

• Centralized Online Resources
  • Dedicate a portal or webpage to school facilities maintenance to support the three pillars: maintenance assessment, state and national funding programs, contract development and management.
  • Provide standardized forms and tools for district use.
  • Develop an on-demand library of resources including webinars, short videos, and additional learning tools.

The development of centralized online resources component of the grant will begin by the end of the year.

• State Level Expertise on Infrastructure Improvements
  
  • In May of 2024, CDE hired a manager to oversee the implementation of the SASI Grant Program. This position will:
    • serve as a liaison with the COEs to further advance the work of maintaining school sites.
    • build capacity of the CDE/Office of Learning Environment staff to support high-need LEAs.

For more information on the SASI Grant program, please visit the U.S. Department of Education Supporting America's School Infrastructure Grant Program website .