Eligible applicants under this program are consortia consisting of a local educational agency (LEA) and one or more community-based organizations, non-profit organizations, or other public or private entities. Generally, an individual school does not have independent authority to apply for a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, or make the commitments required of a consortium partner. Consequently, in most cases -- public elementary and secondary schools - while they can serve as Full-Service Community School (FSCS) sites--could not be consortium partners or lead applicants. For that reason, a public elementary or secondary school that wants to participate in the FSCS program would need its LEA to form a consortium and submit an application to the Department.

As noted in response to question one, most public elementary and secondary schools operate under the jurisdiction of an LEA, and, for that reason, have no independent authority to apply for grants or make binding commitments independent of their LEA. For that reason, a public elementary and secondary school that wishes to be an FSCS site would need its LEA to participate in the consortium applying for an FSCS grant - either as a partner or as the lead applicant.

Yes. A charter school, to be an applicant or partner, would have to be an LEA -- as distinct from a school under the jurisdiction of an LEA. If the charter school is established as a school under the jurisdiction of an LEA, then the LEA, as part of a consortium, could apply and designate the proposed charter school as the site of the FCSC.

Private schools can serve as partners, but a full-service community school site must be a public elementary or secondary school.

Yes. There is no limit to the number of partners that can be part of an FSCS consortium, including LEA partners.

Yes, although the services provided would need to be at the local level coordinated through one or more FSCS sites.

Yes. However, the Department will not fund applications that are carrying out duplicate or overlapping activities. In other words, the Department will not pay for the same activity twice, even if the activity is included in two separate grant applications. For that reason, if a non-profit entity, or any other eligible entity, is part of more than one application, it should be sure that the activities proposed in the various applications they are part of do not duplicate one another.

Yes. However, as noted in response to question seven, the activities in these various applications cannot duplicate one another.

Applicants can submit a single comprehensive MOU that outlines the roles and responsibilities (see EDGAR 75.127-75.129) of all partners or applicants can submit separate MOUs for each partner. There is no standard format for the MOU. The MOUs should be included in the appendix.

While it is possible to add new partners or alter MOUs post-award, such changes can only be made if they will not alter the scope and objectives of the project as described in the approved applications. Because projects are selected for funding on the basis of their applications, it would undermine the integrity of the competitive review process if changes that alter the scope and objectives of a project were permitted after a grant award has been made. While planning can take place during the first year of an FSCS grant, the planning cannot result in changes to the scope and objectives of the project. Since applicants were evaluated by the readers based on the capacity and other attributes of the members of the consortium originally proposed, changes in consortium membership, can only be done if the scope and objectives of the project are not altered as a result.