NEW School Safety and Emergency Preparedness Funding Opportunities from the U.S. Department of Education


This month, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced the release of two new funding opportunities to support school safety and emergency preparedness activities across the country. Learn more about each grant program below and contact us, your national school safety and emergency preparedness technical assistance partner, if you have questions about the application process.

Grants to States for School Emergency Management (GSEM)

  • Purpose: Helps schools address violence and foster safer school environments by providing grants to state educational agencies (SEAs) to increase their capacity to assist local educational agencies (LEAs) in the development, implementation, and review of high-quality and comprehensive school emergency operations plans (EOPs).
     
  • Background: In 2014, ED awarded GSEM grants to 26 SEAs. With support from ED and the REMS TA Center, the selected SEAs were able to increase their capacity to provide high-quality technical assistance to their LEAs, while increasing the number of high-quality school EOPs in each district. ED will build on the prior success of this program by awarding new grants of up to five years to SEAs to further support their LEAs through training and technical assistance. While the new competition will give priority to SEAs that have not previously received GSEM grants, previous GSEM grantees are also eligible for awards.
     
  • Eligibility Requirements: Eligible applicants may collaborate informally or contract with other agencies to provide services to LEAs, including agencies such as: a state school safety center; the state emergency management agency; and the state homeland security department. Eligible applicants include SEAs in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
     
  • Deadline: The deadline for transmittal of applications is September 4, 2018.
     
  • Learn more: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/08/02/2018-16540/applications-for-new-awards-grants-to-states-for-school-emergency-management-program.
     

School Climate Transformation Grant Program—State Educational Agency Grants

  • Purpose: Provides competitive grants to SEAs to develop, enhance, or expand statewide systems of support for, and technical assistance to, LEAs and schools implementing an evidence-based multitiered behavioral framework for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for all students.
     
  • Background: A key aspect of this multitiered approach is providing differing levels of support and interventions to students based on their needs, such as more intensive supports for groups of students exhibiting at-risk behavior and individualized services for students who continue to exhibit troubling behavior. ED will provide additional points to an applicant that proposes a high-quality plan to incorporate opioid abuse prevention and mitigation strategies into the menu of evidence-based strategies available to LEAs implementing multitiered behavioral frameworks.
     
  • Eligibility Requirements: Eligible applicants include SEAs in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands
     
  • Deadline: The deadline for transmittal of applications is August 27, 2018.
     
  • Learn more: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/26/2018-16005/applications-for-new-awards-school-climate-transformation-grant-program-state-educational-agency