On Tuesday evening, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) released a memo outlining answers to a series of critical questions facing CTE leaders during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The first question dealt with whether OCTAE will extend the deadline for States to submit their Perkins V State Plans, which are currently due April 15, 2020. OCTAE acknowledges the various unique difficulties that states may have in submitting their plans on time and are extending the deadline. If a state is able to get their plan submitted by June 15, 2020, OCTAE expects to review and approve the plan by June 30, 2020. If approved, the state will receive the first installment of Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Perkins funds on schedule on July 1, 2020.
If a state is unable to submit their plan by June 15, 2020, OCTAE is able to extend the duration of the state’s one-year transition plan by three months, through September 30, 2020. For these states, OCTAE will issue the first installment of FY 2020 Perkins funds on schedule on July 1, 2020, under the condition that the State will submit its full Perkins V State Plan by September 15, 2020. This will allow states to continuously administer their Perkins V grants without interruption. While most states will likely be able to submit their plans on time, this is important flexibility for those that need a bit more time.
The second question dealt with whether States are able to award sub-grants to local recipients prior to fully approving their local application for funds. The answer to this question is “yes”! States are able to authorize a local recipient applying for a sub-grant to obligate funds when the local recipient submits its application to the State in “substantially approvable form.” States have the authority to define this term, so have flexibility in which requirements of the local application have to be met in order to release funds to locals.
The final question addressed whether States are able to provide local recipients additional time to complete their local applications. Again, the answer is “yes”! If local recipients are unable to submit a “substantially approvable” application by the State’s due date for local applications, OCTAE is using its transition authority under section 4 of Perkins V to enable States to extend the duration of the local recipient’s one-year local application from the transition year by three months, through the end of September. States may still issue the FY 2020 grant award to these recipients on time on July 1 to ensure seamless delivery of services.
The Department acknowledged that there are more questions that will need to be answered as we progress. They will continue to add additional questions and answers as they become available, so please continue to check back on the CTE Policy Watch Blog for any new updates!
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