§ 5-15 — Grant award amounts and required local match

(a) After June 30, 2022, any time there is an appropriation of funds by the General Assembly from the School Infrastructure Fund or School Construction Fund and a release of the appropriated funds to the Capital Development Board for expenditure on grant awards pursuant to the provisions of this Article, the State Board of Education is authorized to open an application cycle to receive grant applications from school districts for school construction projects. No grant application filed before the start of the first application cycle after June 30, 2022 may be considered. After the close of each application cycle, the State Board of Education shall determine the approval of applications, the required local match percentage for each approved application, and the priority order for school construction project grants to be made by the Capital Development Board and shall then notify all applicants regarding their eligibility for a grant. Such notification shall include an estimate of the required local match. The State Board of Education shall publish a list of applicants eligible for grants and forward it to the Capital Development Board. (b) The Capital Development Board, to the extent that appropriated funds have been released and proceeding through the list of eligible applicants in the order of priority determined by the State Board of Education, shall issue conditional grant awards to eligible school districts. An applicant that does not receive a conditional grant award notification must submit a new application during another application cycle in order to receive future consideration for a grant award. (c) The conditional grant award certifies to a school district the recognized project costs for its school construction project determined by the Capital Development Board, the applicable required local match percentage and grant award percentage, the required local match and grant award amount calculated by multiplying the required local match percentage and the grant award percentage by the recognized project cost, and the required local match and grant award amount as those amounts may be adjusted as required in subsection (d). (d) The required local match and grant award amount are calculated by multiplying the required local match percentage and the grant award percentage by the recognized project cost, provided that, for the first application in which an applicant is funded, these amounts may be adjusted if the applicant had previously expended funds on a school construction project on the 2004, 2005, or 2006 School Construction Grant List. In that case, the required local match shall be reduced (but not below zero) and the grant award amount shall be increased (to an amount no greater than the recognized project cost) by an amount determined by the Capital Development Board to be equal to the amount of the grant the applicant would have received pursuant to Section 5-35 had it been awarded a grant in 2004, 2005, or 2006 based on the 2004, 2005, or 2006 School Construction Grant List and the year in which the school district applied for the grant. To receive an adjustment under this subsection (d), a school district on the 2004, 2005, or 2006 School Construction Grant List must initially apply and be approved during the first 3 application cycles after June 30, 2024. (e) A school district shall have 2 years from the date the school district was issued a conditional grant award from the Capital Development Board to obtain the school district's required local match and receive a final grant award from the Capital Development Board. If the required local match is not obtained within the 2-year time frame, the school district shall be required to reapply in another application cycle, after the 2-year time frame, to be considered for a grant award. The State share of the grant amount in a conditional grant award that is not claimed by a school district within the 2-year time frame shall be reallocated to future application cycles after the 2-year time frame expires.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-723, eff. 5-6-22; 103-154, eff. 6-30-23; 103-960, eff. 8-9-24.)