FY 2023–24 CSI COE AFF Instructions

Instructions for county offices of education (COEs) using the Grant Management and Reporting Tool (GMART) to submit the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023–24 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) COE Plan Development and Implementation Support Application for Funding (AFF).

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GMART is a web-based platform that allows COEs to complete and submit applications for funding, modify funding plans, and submit expenditure data.

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User names and passwords are emailed to the COE Superintendents. Passwords are case sensitive and cannot be changed or reset by the COE. If more than three attempts to log on have been made within one hour, the GMART will lock the user out of the system. If the COE has forgotten the password, or has been locked out of the system, please contact the School Improvement and Support Office at 916-319-0833.

GMART Home Page for CSI

For each fiscal year, the GMART home page displays the ESSA CSI COE Application for Funding link to initiate the web-based application process. Once selected, the COE will be directed to the Application Overview section to begin completing the application.

Application Process

The ESSA CSI COE Plan Development and Implementation Support Application for Funding is a web-based application that includes an Application Overview and six separate sections. In order to receive ESSA, Section 1003 funding, the eligible COE must complete and submit the application for funding on or before the due date.

To begin the web-based application, the COE must first review the Application Overview. Once the COE has reached the “Eligibility Requirements” section of the Application Overview, the COE will select the “Select to Display More Information” button at the bottom of the page to continue. The COE will repeat this process until it has read all related content in this section. Once all of the information has been reviewed, the COE must select the “Select to Display More Information” button to advance to Section 1 of the application.

The bullets below describe each of the six sections of the application.

Section 1

Intent to Apply—Each COE that is eligible for funding and intends to apply for funding must check the COE “Intends to apply” checkbox in Section 1 of the online application. By selecting this checkbox, the COE can now select the “Save and Continue to Section 2” button and advance to Section 2 of the application. If the COE selects the “Does Not Intend to apply” checkbox, the COE must indicate the reason it chooses to not accept funding in the textbox provided before the COE can advance to Section 6 of the application to certify its intention to not apply for funding and to sign and submit the application.

Section 2

General Assurances, Certifications, Terms, and Conditions—The COE must review and adhere to the requirements of the general assurances, certifications, and terms and conditions of the subgrant as a condition of receiving funds. Once all of the information has been reviewed, the COE must select the “Save and Continue to Section 3” button at the bottom of the page to advance to Section 3 of the application.

Section 3

COE Information—The COE information is prepopulated into the GMART. The COE will verify the accuracy of its applicant information, including the physical address of the COE, the Preliminary Allocation Amount, County/District code, National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) code, and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) code. If the information is accurate, the COE will select “The COE Applicant Information is accurate” checkbox. The COE can now enter contact information for the Primary Grant Coordinator, Secondary Grant Coordinator, and the Fiscal Coordinator by selecting the “Edit Contact Information” button at the bottom of the page. All contact fields must be completed in order to continue to Section 4 of the web-based application. If the COE has only a Primary Grant Coordinator, it must duplicate that information for the Secondary Grant Coordinator.

• First and Last Name
• Title
• Phone
• Extension
• Email
• Fax

If the COE applicant information is inaccurate, the COE will select “The COE Applicant Information is inaccurate” checkbox. The COE must select the “Save and Logoff” button at the bottom of the page and contact the School Improvement and Support Office by phone at 916-319-0833 or by email at ESSACOE@cde.ca.gov for assistance.

Section 4

Narrative Response— The COE must provide a complete written response with a maximum of 2000 characters for the prompt listed in this section of the application. In order to continue to Section 5, the prompt must include a response. The COE will select the “Save and Continue to Section 5” button at the bottom of the page to continue to Section 5 of the application, or select the “Save and Logoff” button to save the application and continue at a future date.

Section 5

Project Budget—The COE must complete a proposed project budget using the prepopulated Preliminary Allocation Amount. In the Proposed Project Budget, the COE will select the “Edit” button in the “COE Action” column to enter the total amount for each Object Code in the “Amount” column and provide an explanation for the proposed expenditures in the “Expenditure Description” column. Once data has been entered, the COE must select the “Update” button in the “COE Action” column to save the data or the “Cancel” button in the “COE Action” column to cancel the entered data. To continue to Section 6, the amount listed in the Preliminary Allocation Amount must equal the amount listed in the Total Budget Amount. The subgrant funds must support the requirements of the subgrant. All expenditures must be allowable activities and costs as outlined in the ESSA CSI COE Plan Development and Implementation Support Application for Funding. The Proposed Project Budget must be approved by the California Department of Education (CDE).

Object Code: Section 41010 of the Education Code requires LEAs to follow the definitions, instructions, and procedures in the California School Accounting Manual (CSAM). The CSAM Object Codes and Definitions can be found at CSAM (PDF).

Amount: Enter the total amount budgeted for each Object Code. Do not leave any fields blank. Enter $0.00 if the COE does not have a budgeted amount in an Object Code. All proposed costs must directly align to and fully support the allowable use of funds described in this application.

Expenditure Justification: Provide an expenditure description for all proposed expenditures within the following Object Codes. The description should directly align to the allowable use of funds described in this application and include how the costs are necessary and reasonable to execute the subgrant requirements.

Indirect Cost Rate: For the indirect cost rates (ICRs), use the CDE’s approved ICRs located at the Indirect Cost Rates web page.

Sub-agreements over $25,000: Indirect cost guidelines allow that up to $25,000 of each individual sub-agreement may be coded to Object Code 5800, Professional/Consulting Services and Operating Expenditures, with the remainder charged to Object Code 5100—Sub-agreements over $25,000.

Note: Final allocation amounts for each COE will be determined by the first reporting period. At that time, the COE will be required to revise its Proposed Project Budget, if needed, according to the final funding results. Instructions for the revision will be provided to the COE at a later date.

COE Allocation

The table below is a display of the COE name and allocation amount in the GMART.

The total budget amount must match the preliminary allocation amount. To continue to Section 6, select the “Save and Continue to Section 6” button or select the “Save and Logoff” button at the bottom of the page to save the application and continue on a future date.

Section 6

Signatures and Submission—Each COE must review the terms and conditions, select the necessary checkboxes, electronically sign the application, and select the “Submit Application” button at the bottom of the page to electronically submit the application. Once the application has been submitted by the COE, the Current Application Status notification will display “Submitted.” The primary, secondary, and fiscal grant contacts will receive an email notification stating that the application has been received. After submitting the application, the COE can use the “Print Submitted Application” button located on the left side of the page to print a copy of the application for its records.

The CDE will review the submitted application. If the application is approved, the primary, secondary, and fiscal grant contacts will receive an email notification of approval. If a revision is needed, the primary, secondary, and fiscal grant contacts will receive an email notification that the application must be revised. In the event that the application must be revised, the COE must log in to the GMART and review the “Remarks” column within the Application Status table, make the requested revisions, and resubmit the application.

CDE Contact Information

For questions related to the CSI COE Applications for Funding, please contact the School Improvement and Support Office by email at ESSACOE@cde.ca.gov or by phone at 916-319-0833.

To access all COE application and reporting resources, please visit the CDE ESSA School Support Webinar Resources web page.

For additional information related to CSI, please visit the California Department of Education CSI web page.