Questions and Answers

On clarifications to the TEXSHEP 2012-2015 RFA

The following questions have been listed in the order in which they were received. They are not organized by topic or particular part of the RFA, but are listed by the date the response was published to the web.

October 17, 2011

Q1. Will the webinar be archived for future watching?

A1. Yes, the webinar can be accessed on the THEO website under the section of the website dedicated to the 2012-2015 TEXSHEP RFA. At this time, the webinar can be viewed only on the PC platform. Persons who use the Apple platform will have to view it on a PC.

Q2. Is there an appeal process to ask for additional monies to raise the award level? Our district, if awarded, will receive significantly less than our current award.

A2. The brief answer to this question is no, there is no such appeal process.

The amount of funding for which districts are eligible to apply is based primarily on the reported numbers of students in homeless situations through the Texas Education Agency’s 2010-11 eGrants 6400 Compliance Report: Homeless Students Enrolled, and the projected amount of funding that will be available from the US Department of Education (ED) for McKinney-Vento programs. Other, less significant, factors may play a part in the determination of the awards as well.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has not verified the numbers on the eGrants 6400 Report and has an open period where districts may change their numbers if errors have been detected. For award purposes, Region 10 will use the figures from the TEA report as of March 1, 2012. It is anticipated that there will be very little, if any, variance in the numbers reported.

Also, TEA will not receive the official funding amount from ED until late June or early July 2012. Should there be a significant variance from the projected grant award to TEA, successful applicants may have to adjust their awards accordingly. Again, a significant increase or decrease is not anticipated, but there is no way to know what Congress will do regarding MV funding.

Q3. If our total number of homeless students reported to TEA increases during the 2011-12 school year, does that change our funding level for the next cycle?

A3. At this time, Region 10 anticipates using the 2010-11 reported numbers on which to make awards for the first year of the 2012-15 TEXSHEP subgrant cycle. Region 10 does retain the right to adjust how subgrant awards are determined. Thus while not likely, projected subgrant awards may be subject to change should some compelling, unforeseen event occur that would make revised funding amounts in the best interest of Texas students in homeless situations.

Q4. Is the amount on the TEXSHEP funding table listed under each school district only for the first year of the subgrant cycle or is it the total award for the entire three-year subgrant period?

A4. The amount on the TEXSHEP funding table is for the first year of the subgrant only. Region 10 will notify subgrantees of the tentative amounts for which they are eligible to apply in subsequent subgrant years.

Q5. What is done with the money that is not requested by every eligible school district?

A5. Should all available funds NOT be requested, Region 10 will determine a method for re-allocating those funds in the way that will best meet the needs of students in homeless situations.

Q6. On page 36 in the Success Section it states: Cumulative number of high school credits attempted by all homeless students, grades 9-12. Does this referring to the 2010-11 school year only, or to the total credits since the students started high school?

A6. Applicants are to report the total number of credits attempted by all students reported as homeless during the course of the 2010-11 school year only.

Q7. Within each schedule, is there a minimum number of points that will automatically get the proposal eliminated or will the overall accumulation of points determine which proposals are accepted?

A7. There is no pre-determined amount of points that will automatically disqualify an application. However, failure to comply with specific stated requirements may automatically disqualify the application from consideration, such as failure to submit the application by the due date and time.

Q8. In a small district like mine, with only 10-20 students identified as homeless each year, would it be worth my time to apply for these funds?

A8. The decision to apply for the TEXSHEP subgrant is a decision that only eligible applicants can make. Applicants are required to complete the entire application, addressing all requirements, regardless of the amount of funding for which they are applying. Thus a district with a small number of students, which might be eligible for only a few thousand dollars, will have to decide if it can prepare a competitive application.

October 18, 2011

Q9. We are an ESC and plan to apply as a Shared-Services Arrangement (SSA). Some of our member districts will be part of our SSA and will not have their own subgrant. Some of the districts that will be joining with us are planning to apply for their own subgrant as well. Regarding the ISDs that are also applying on their own, do we count ALL of their homeless numbers or only those we will serve through our ESC SSA?

A9. Many sections of the application ask questions about student numbers and will have to be answered according to instructions for that schedule.

For example, regarding funding, the maximum amount for which a Shared Services Arrangements Application (SSA) is eligible to apply must be calculated by multiplying $100 times the sum of all the homeless students reported to TEA in 2010-2011 for each participating LEA. SSA applicants must complete the 2010-2011 TEXSHEP SSA Funding Spreadsheet in order to calculate that maximum amount for which they can apply.

SSA applicants must submit this 2010-2011 TEXSHEP SSA Funding Spreadsheet along with their RFA to Region 10 ESC. Completing the Funding Spreadsheet will require copying the appropriate data from the 2010-2011 TEXSHEP Funding and Homeless Information Spreadsheet for each participating LEA into the Funding Spreadsheet in order to calculate the maximum allowable amount. THEO will verify the maximum amount for successful SSAs and any corrections will be made in the negotiations process.

The $225,000 TEXSHEP limit applies to the SSA applications, too––no TEXSHEP subgrant can exceed $225,000 even if the total number of homeless students reported to TEA for all of the applicants’ participating LEAs is greater than 2,250.

As another example, on Schedule #6B, you should report cumulative totals that aggregate the numbers from each participating district. Thus the Total Students column would contain the sum of the total students of all the participating districts. The total number of homeless students in a district will be the same number used for the SSA application and the district application. That number will simply be a part of the total on the SSA application and the total number on the single-district application.

As a final example, on Schedule #6C, you should report cumulative totals for all the participating districts. One item on Schedule #6C asks for the number of homeless students receiving MV services. In this row, you would include only those students who will receive a service through your ESC SSA subgrant. Those students who receive MV services from their district’s subgrant must be included only on their district’s application.

Unless the application specifically asks for districtwide data, your SSA application should include only those activities your participating districts will be conducting and only those numbers of students your participating districts will be serving using SSA funds. For example, if District A is a member of your SSA and is doing an after-school tutoring program for grades 1-4 using SSA funds, all the students served with those SSA funds would be included on the SSA application and not on the district application. If District A is also applying for its own subgrant and plans to use its own funds for a summer program for high school students, it would not count those high school students as part of the SSA application. Those students would be counted only on the district application.

In some instances the same student(s) may be served by both subgrants; in that case, count those students on both applications.

Q10. I downloaded the RFA on my computer and it wouldn't let me write in the blanks. I emailed the document to my tech department and she said this is a read only PDF file. That means you can’t write on or edit it. How can I fill it out?

A10. If you will keep scrolling beyond all the parts of the PDF version, you will find the Word version. The PDF version contains all the information you need to complete the application, including the instructions and the reviewers’ score sheets. The Word version contains only those schedules that comprise the application that you will actually submit.

October 19, 2011

Q11. Within each text box’s “Character Count,” does that include spaces or not? Word provides a count both with and without spaces, but I couldn’t find the instructions regarding this issue in the RFA.

A11. The maximum character counts in the RFA include spaces. For example, a maximum character count of 10 means that 10 individual alphabetic letters could be typed OR 10 numbers OR 10 punctuation marks OR 10 spaces OR some combination of 10 letters, numbers, punctuation marks, or spaces. Thus when using your Word program to count characters, be sure you have it set to count spaces as well.

October 21, 2011

Q12. If an LEA reported 0 students on its eGrants report, but has homeless students this year, can that district be a member of an SSA?

A11. Yes, the district can be a member of an SSA; however, the SSA fiscal agent must use only official reported numbers in sections of the application that require such information. For example, Schedule #6B, item 1, asks for total numbers of homeless students. The fiscal agent must use the official number from 2010-11 as instructed; the fiscal agent must NOT use numbers from any other source.

October 26, 2011

Q13. We are an ESC and would like to include two partners in our subgrant, but on the eGrants Homeless Students Enrolled Report, one of them reported 0 homeless students in 2010-11 because of a miscommunication within the district. The other is a charter school that has many homeless students but didn’t receive Title I funds, so it was not required to report homeless students. How do we handle this? They both had homeless students in 2010-11 but didn’t or couldn’t report them.

A13: TEA has a process that will allow districts in this situation to submit their numbers of homeless students for 2010-11.

Any district in this situation must contact Barbara James by email at babawawa@austin.utexas.edu with the subject line:

TEXSHEP 2012-15: Request for Alternate Data Submission

In the email, please include your phone number and state why your district reported 0 students or didn’t report at all.

Q14: Our district just discovered that we made a mistake in reporting our homeless numbers on the PR6400 Homeless Students Enrolled Report. We understand that we can amend this report to accurately reflect our numbers of students in homeless situations for 2010-11. Is this true? If we amend our report, will it affect our funding amount that is shown on the funding table?

A14: TEA does have a process for updating data reported on the eGrants PR6400 Homeless Students Enrolled Report. The person in your district who enters data for eGrants will know the process for updating the report and should be consulted if errors are detected. When final awards are announced, Region 10 will use the certified numbers, which by then TEA will have submitted to the US Department of Education. Thus if a district’s numbers change from what is on the funding table, the award is likely to vary from the original estimated amount. This variance can be positive or negative. Other factors may also influence the amount of funding a district will ultimately receive. For example, if Congress greatly increases or decreases McKinney-Vento funding, that might affect estimated awards. The funding table serves only as a guideline, providing a reasonable estimate of the amount of funding successful applicants will receive.

October 28, 2011

Q15: In anticipation of the coming grant application, I sent out letters to all of my collaborators in August. I was unaware of the new Collaboration Form for the TEXSHEP grant and have received letters of support/ collaboration. These letters detail the same information that is on the collaboration worksheet. Would it be acceptable to have the signed letters attached to the Collaboration Forms so that our partners do not have to complete the process again?

A15: Yes, this will be acceptable as long as all the information requested on the Collaboration Form is in the letters. Successful applicants will be expected to produce this information at the mid-year review. Failure to provide the required information could possibly have an effect on funding.

Q16: The eGrant number of homeless students reported for 2010-11 by our district to TEA includes duplicates. In order to present accurate data in the needs tables for our district, we can remove the duplicate information. However, the total number on our needs tables will vary from the total numbers reported in the eGrants PR6400 Homeless Students Enrolled Report. Should we include the duplicates or remove them?

A16: You should not report duplicate numbers on your needs tables because that would portray an distorted picture of the magnitude of your district’s needs to those assessing and scoring your application. The US Department of Education (ED) requires that states report accurate numbers when submitting any data to ED. Thus districts are expected to report accurate data to the Texas Education Agency, which has the responsibility for submitting data to ED. ED realizes that sometimes errors can occur in data submission for a variety of reasons, thus ED gives states and districts the opportunity to review their data and make corrections before certifying data. Your district must discuss this matter and make the determination as to how it will handle this issue with TEA. Please see Question #14 above, which is directly related to your question.

October 31, 2011

Q17: On Schedule 6C, where it asks for the percentage of homeless students in grades 3-11 that took the STAAR/TAKS tests, does that mean all students enrolled through the course of the year or just a snapshot of students who were enrolled at the time of testing? Also, does this mean students who took all applicable TAKS tests, or students who took at least one TAKS test?

A17: The formula for determining the percentage of homeless students in grades 3-11 that took the STAAR/TAKS tests can be found on page 35. It is as follows:

Total # of homeless students in grades 3-11 that took the STAAR/TAKS test
Total # of homeless students


For the baseline year, 2010-11, applicants will be using only TAKS information. In subsequent years, applicants will be using a combination of TAKS/STAAR scores.

To complete the formula shown above for the baseline year, determine the unduplicated number of students that took only the Reading/ELA test, only the Standard Math test, or both tests during the course of the year. Count a student only once if the student took the same test multiple times. The applicable tests include all TAKS Reading/ELA tests and all TAKS Standard Math tests used for AYP evaluations. DO NOT simply add together the numbers of students who took each test as shown on Schedule #6B—this will NOT give the unduplicated number of students who took the tests. After determining the unduplicated number of students who took the tests, divide it by the total number of homeless students enrolled in the district (use the number that appears in the first box in the Identification/Enrollment box at the top of page 36).

Q18: On the TEXSHEP Schedule #6E, the fourth column on the right asks "Related TEXSHEP activity numbers and page numbers." To which activities does this refer? Are these the activities listed on Schedule6D? Isn’t it redundant to put in the same activities on both schedules? Should the collaborators’ names be listed on Schedule #6D or simply refer to Schedule #6E?

A18: Sometimes there is a bit of redundancy in the RFA. This occurs primarily to assist reviewers as they score the applications, particularly those applications that have many activities. It saves the reviewers a great deal of time if they know the number of the activity on Schedule #6D where the collaborators named on Schedule #6E can be located. Reviewers, like most people, are very busy. They appreciate being able to locate information quickly.

Use the fourth column on Schedule #6E to list the number of the activity on Schedule #6D in which the collaborator can be found. For example, on Schedule # 6D, #1, Activity Description Table, the columns might include the following activity:

Column 1: Activity #6

Column 2: Community-based service organizations will provide
nutritious snacks for after-school tutoring programs at least twice per week (applicant may name the specific group or may refer to the group more generically)

Column 3: Approximately 100-110 students to be served

Column 4: Service provided at elementary and middle schools

Column 5: Homeless liaisons and tutors involved

Column 6: Evidence will be list of dates snacks were provided and how many children received the snacks, verified by the tutor who served the snacks

Column 7: Related Needs are 1 and 3 (from Schedule #6B)

Then, looking at Schedule #6E as it relates to Activity #6, the columns might look as follows:

Column 1: Lists the line number for each collaborator; this
example will look at the hypothetical collaborators on lines 5 and 9

Column 2: Line 5—Girl Scouts, Troop 655 Line 9—Presbyterian Ladies Benevolent Society

Column 3: Line 5—provide nutritious snacks for after-school tutoring programs at least twice per week Line 5—provide nutritious snacks for after-school tutoring programs at least twice per week

Column 4: Line 5—Activity #6, page 44 Line 9—Activity #6, page 44

In this example, two different groups were performing the same activity. Thus on Schedule #6D, the activity would be listed once, in this case it is Activity #6, while on Schedule #6E, the collaborators are identified separately, on lines 5 and 9.

November 1, 2011

Q19: This year our district has picked up Head Start students. Are we allowed to put these students in our count even though they were not in the district last year?

A19: Schedule #6B, Part 1, requests data for the 2010-11 school year. One of the categories of data is students ages 3-5 who are not in Kindergarten. Because the Head Start students were not part of your district in 2010-2011, you cannot count those students for inclusion on this schedule.

Schedule #6C is used to establish baselines and projected outcomes. Again, you cannot count these students for establishing a baseline using 2010-11 data because the students were not enrolled during that year. However, if Head Start students will be enrolled in the district in the 2012-13 school year and/or in subsequent years, then you may include them in the Projected Years Outcomes columns where appropriate.

Please note that sometimes Head Start programs are located on a school campus but the students are not actually enrolled in the school. Check on this to ensure that any student you are counting will be enrolled in the school and will be reported to TEA as a member of the school district.

While you may serve Head Start students who are not enrolled in the district, you will report to TEA only those students who are actually enrolled in the district.

November 9, 2011

Q20: On Schedule #6B, page 29, #1 Collect the Data: The last two columns ask for “District Non-Special Education Retention Rates” and “Homeless Non-Special Education Retention Rates.” Our PEIMS director informed me that TEA does not require us to report this type of data, therefore, our district does not have information about these retention rates. Are you aware of another source from which this type of data may be obtained?

A20: The Texas Education Agency’s Academic Excellence Indicator System does have this information on district non-special education retention rates for grades K-8 for every district in the state. To get this information for your district, go to the following website address:

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/2010/district.srch.html

Once on this webpage, answer the first two questions about how you would like to receive the report, then enter your district’s name or number (whatever you selected in item 2), and then select “Continue.”

Scroll down to Section II of the report. In that section, you will find information about your district’s non-special education retention rates for grades K-8.

To obtain information about homeless non-special education retention rates, you will need to do the following:

  1. Obtain a list of homeless students in your district who were enrolled in the fall of 2010-11 in the same grade as their grade in the last reported six-week period of the 2009-10 school year.
  2. From this list, remove any students who are in special education.
  3. For each grade level, take the number of homeless, non-special education students that were not advanced to the next grade and divide this number by (the total number of homeless, non-special education students advanced to the next grade PLUS the total number of homeless, non-special education students that were not advanced to the next grade). This will give you the retention rate for homeless, non-special education students. For example, in fall 2010-11, if 45 homeless, non-special education students were advanced to Grade 6, and 5 were not advanced, the retention rate would be 5÷(45+5) or 5÷50 or 10%.

Q21: On Schedule #6B, page 29, #1 Collect the Data: At the bottom of the box at the top, it has a line with “Source for Data” on it. What is this for? What should we put there?

A21: Use this space to state where you got the information you placed in each column in the top box on the schedule. For example, if you got information for the “Total Students” column from the from the AEIS report on TEA’s website, you would indicate that information in the box under “Total” for that column. This information will be verified and discrepancies addressed prior to any awards being announced.

Q22: Will there be 1 or 2 required annual TEXSHEP trainings for each year of the next grant cycle?

A22: TEXSHEP subgrantees should plan for one required annual training that will take place in the fall of each subgrant year.

November 17, 2011

Q23: Can you provide clarification on what attempted credits means? Does this include students who dropped courses and/or only the students that completed courses but failed? (This is for the new TEXSHEP cycle application, Schedule 6C.)

A23: An “attempted credit” is defined as a credit for a course in which a student was enrolled but failed. Withdrawals or incompletes should not be considered—only those courses attempted and failed should be considered.

Q24: Our district is applying for the 2012-2015 TEXSHEP grant both directly to Region 10 and also as a shared service arrangement (SSA) with our regional education service center. Can we have the same collaborative partners for both applications or do we need distinct partners for each application?

A24: If the ESC has set up collaborative partnerships, and your project will be working with that partner, then you may also add that partner to your application. However, you may not include a partner from the SSA if it is not providing services to students in your district.

For example, if the ESC is partnering with a scout troop to provide weekend snack packs for three districts in its SSA, but your district is not one of them, then you would not include the scout troop as a collaborative partner. But if you are one of the three receiving the snack packs, then you may add that partnership to your application.

Conversely, if you work with a local bank that agrees to sponsor a weekend field trip for homeless students in your district, the ESC should not include that collaboration in its application.

Your application will be much stronger if you have a combination of your own collaborators along with those from the ESC.

Q25: In order to submit the TEXSHEP grant, applicants must create an ESC 10 account to upload the application on Region 10’s secure server. I have a generic ESC 10 user id and password. Is that all I need or is there another account that I need to set up? Is the ESC 10 electronic grant submission location on their website?

A25: Applicants must create a special, separate account with Region 10 just for this RFA. As noted in the RFA, to set up an account and obtain instructions on uploading the application to the secure server, send a request to mv.rfa@region10.org.

Q26: The 2009-12 TEXSHEP application required certain attachments and allowed applicants to submit additional attachments. Does the 2012-15 TEXSHEP application allow applicants to submit additional information now that the process is electronic?

A26: The previous TEXSHEP application did require applicants to submit certain attachments, such as collaborative agreements and policies and procedures. The 2012-15 TEXSHEP application requires that successful applicants have both of these documents available for the mid-year review, but expressly states that applicants are not to submit these items as part of the application.

The instructions for each schedule state if an attachment is or is not necessary. For example, if the lobbying schedule is applicable to your district, then you must upload it. As another example, page 21 of the RFA, the instructions for Schedule #6A, direct applicants to scan any forms that are used to identify and/or enroll homeless students and submit them as an appendix along with the rest of the RFA.

As we continue to emphasize, read and follow the instructions for each schedule—you won’t go wrong in doing that!

November 18, 2011

Q27: Some of the budget pages do not have enough lines to allow me to add items that need to be on the schedules. How do I handle this?

A27: First, be sure that you are putting the items in the appropriate category according to guidelines from TEA. Your budget office should be able to help you with this.

You should have a separate line for most items, except for things such as school supplies, office supplies, or similar items. Be sure to put appropriate subcontractors on Line 02 on Schedule #7B, Professional and Contracted Services #6200, and include the appropriate supplemental information on Schedule #7B.1.

If you need additional lines on a budget schedule, send an email to Patrick Lopez at plopez@austin.utexas.edu and copy Barbara W. James at babawawa@austin.utexas.edu. You will receive a schedule to which lines have been added. You will need to upload this document according to the instructions you receive about uploading documents.

November 19, 2011

Q28: How do we find out how many credits a homeless student attempted last year? Can we put "unknown" in the blank? We do not have a way to get that information. If we don’t submit this information, will it affect our score?

A28: To find how many credits homeless students attempted, you will need to take the list of all homeless students in high school, obtain their grade reports, and total the number of credits the students attempted.

As stated in question #23, an “attempted credit” is defined as a credit for a course in which a student was enrolled but failed. Withdrawals or incompletes should not be considered—only those courses attempted and failed should be considered. Thus if a homeless student left the district in mid-semester, that student’s credit attempts should not be included in the calculation of attempted credits. You will then determine the number of credits the students earned, in other words, the number of credits they received for passing the courses in which they were enrolled and completed.

For example, if your district had 100 homeless students, and in 2010-11, those students were enrolled in a total of 1600 credits, but withdrew from 150 of those credits and received “incomplete” for 10 of those credits, then the total number of credits attempted would be 1490 (1600-100-10=1490). If students passed the classes to earn 1100 credits, then that would be the number of earned credits.

Regarding the second part of the question—the impact on your score for not providing this information—yes, it will count against you. This chart is worth 10 points; review criteria include consideration of how accurately an applicant completed the chart. Failure to answer a question will result in the reviewer deducting points.

November 22, 2011

Q29: Schedule 11 of TEXSHEP Grant application 2012-15 is shown to be mandatory on Schedule 3, but is only submitted if the applicant has lobbying activities to disclose. May I "un X" Schedule 11 on Schedule 3?

A29: Yes, if you are not required to submit it you may “un-X” it. Be sure to check with your district to make certain you are not required to submit it, however.

December 2, 2011

Q30: Regarding Schedule #6E Collaboration/Coordination, Column 4, Related TEXSHEP activity numbers and page numbers, it is my understanding that the 1st numbers should be the number of the activity from Schedule #6D Project Activities. Do you want the page number that the activity (schedule #6D) is on or all of the pages the collaborator might be mentioned on...or both?

A30: If a collaborator’s work pertains to more than one of the proposed activities, list the activity numbers along with the page numbers where those activities can be found.

In the example given on page 44, if the project is describing an after-school tutoring program as part of activity number 3 and as part of activity number 4, and the collaborator is providing snacks for both of those programs, then the applicant would list activities 3 and 4 and the respective pages where those programs could be found (in the example, pages 6 and 7).

Q31: The example to answer question 18 refers to a private group that is providing snacks for an after-school tutoring program. The directions for the activity page (page 38, 1st paragraph, last sentence) state that applicants are not to list activities that are not funded by the subgrant. Please clarify.

A31: There is some confusion about the manner in which collaborator activities should be reported on Schedules #6D and #6E.

It would be acceptable to place collaborator activities on Schedule #6D IF those activities support a subgrant-sponsored activity, as given in the example in question 18.

However, if a collaborator is sponsoring an activity that will benefit homeless students, but that activity does not involve the school or the McKinney-Vento project in any way, then the activity could be listed on Schedule #6E but it would not refer to any activity on Schedule #6D. Column 4 on Schedule #6E could be marked N/A. Also, the activity would not be listed on Schedule #6D.

For example: the Rotary Club is sponsoring a coat drive for children in homeless situations, and will assume all responsibility for collecting, sorting, storing, and distributing the coats. This activity could be listed on Schedule #6E because it benefits homeless students. Because it is not part of any subgrant-sponsored activity, it would not be listed on Schedule #6D.

Q32: On schedule 6B, under TAKS Met 2011 Standard Reading/ELA or Math: % District: for grade 12, do we indicate only those seniors who did not pass TAKS during the previous year (junior year) – these would be repeaters, OR do we include the percentage of ALL 12th graders who passed TAKS regardless of when they passed (either in their 11th grade year or 12th grade year)?

A32: The percentage reported should be the rate of twelfth-graders who scored proficient or above out of the total pool of twelfth-graders who took the test that year. Even though the 12th-graders who took the tests were repeaters, the percentage reported for either test should show the passing rate of only those 12th-graders who took that test.

Q33: We want to budget a certain amount of money to deliver staff development to district staff members that serve our homeless population. At this time, we do not know the name of the person or persons that will be delivering this service to our district. Are we still required to complete schedule #7B.1 if we don’t have all that information?

A33: Yes, you will have to submit Schedule #7B.1 with as much information as you have about any potential consultant, indicating any information that is To Be Determined.

December 5, 2011

Q34: I am concerned about the last 2 columns on Schedule #6C, where applicants are to put a projection for year 2 and year 3 outcomes. If I increase the projected number of homeless students to be enrolled for years 2 and 3, and the district membership actually increases by the projected number of new homeless students, then this projection would indicate that the increase of enrolled students would all be homeless. That would not be a reasonable projection.

Also, if the district membership remains the same, then the new projection of homeless students would indicate that students living in the district are now becoming homeless.

My question is: What basis or figures should be used for a realistic projection for years 2 and 3? Is there a formula for calculating this projection?

A34: There are many questions within this question.

Regarding the first paragraph, the Identification/Enrollment section of Schedule #6C refers only to homeless students enrolled in the district—the total estimated number of all students is not to be placed on this form. Certainly, though, applicants will have to project a total number students enrolled in the district in order to estimate the number and percentage of homeless students to be enrolled in the district.

Skipping to the question in the third paragraph, as an example, let’s assume a district had the following enrollments:

8,010 total students and 200 homeless students in 2008-09
9,033 total students and 215 homeless students in 2009-10
10,116 total students and 253 homeless students in 2010-11

Based on that growth, an applicant could reasonably expect the district to have the following numbers:

12,000 total students and 340 homeless students in 2012-13
13,000 total students and 460 homeless students in 2013-14
14,000 total students and 505 homeless students in 2014-15

No formula was used to calculate these figures. The liaison simply looked at the three years where the numbers of total students and homeless students were known and then made a reasonable projection based on previous history and her knowledge of the district. For example, if she knows that a major employer announced a factory will close in the early part of 2013, and that company employs a significant number of the district’s parents, then it would be safe to assume that there would be a large bump in homelessness since other employment opportunities are not abundant.

Thus to arrive at realistic figures, use the district’s past numbers to project future numbers. This is not an exact science, but reasonable projections can be made. Unless the district anticipates major economic upheaval in the projection years, or the liaison suspects serious undercounting in past years, reviewers might be suspicious of increases of numbers of homeless students that are several times those of recent years. While Schedule #6C does not allow space for addressing the reasons for unusual increases or declines in numbers of homeless students, this information could be reported in other sections of the application, such as Schedule #6B, Schedule #6D, and Schedule #6I.

Regarding the second paragraph of the question, it would be quite possible for the number of students in the district to remain relatively stable while the numbers and percentages of homeless students increase. A natural disaster might destroy large numbers of homes, leaving thousands homeless, such as Texas experienced with Hurricanes Katrina and Ike. The district may implement a much better identification system, thus fewer homeless students slip through the cracks. There are several other reasons why overall student enrollment may remain static while the number of homeless students increases.

December 7, 2011

Q35: I had my superintendent sign page 1 of the application a few weeks ago. Today I noticed that the signature page that is posted as a separate document on the website has the words “Signature Page” on it. Am I supposed to use the page titled “Signature Page” or is it OK if I use page 1 from the application?

A35: You can use either page. The reason for two versions is because the level of technical capabilities varies from district to district and it is important to ensure that all applicants have a method of submission that is compatible with their technology.

Q36: We are trying to upload the application in the Word format but we are having problems getting it to look right—it has lots of wiggly lines in it. Would it be permissible to upload it as a PDF?

A36: Region 10 prefers that the application be uploaded as a Word document. However, technology varies from district to district, so if you cannot get the document to load in a readable fashion, then upload it as a PDF document. Other support documents, such as signature pages, can be uploaded in PDF format. Region 10 prefers the application be uploaded in Word format so that those projects selected for funding will be in the correct format when subgrant negotiations commence.

Q37: When I requested my account and user id for the TEXSHEP subgrant, I uploaded a test document just to see if everything worked OK. Today when I went to upload my final documents for the subgrant, I tried to delete my test document. When I clicked on "Delete," I got a message that said I do not have the authority to delete documents on this website. I do not want to submit the test document as part of my application; what can I do?

A37: Region 10 did not anticipate that applicants would submit "test documents" to the secure server. The website was set up in such a way that would only allow documents to be added to the server, not deleted. The reason for this is because this grant process is a legal one; Region 10 did not want there to be any potential for documents to be removed from the server inadvertently. This could open up a potential problem for the integrity of the competitive process, causing a need to re-do the entire application process. Region 10's intent is to avoid a need to re-do the competitive process.

All documents will be examined prior to transferring them to the reviewers. Any documents that clearly are not part of the application will be retained by Region 10 but will not be forwarded on to the reviewers. Any documents that might be questionable will be forwarded on to the reviewers, who will decide whether the information is pertinent or not.

Q38: I uploaded my signature documents a few weeks ago--right after our superintendent signed them. Today when I went to upload my completed application, I noticed that my signature documents had disappeared. There was no record that I had uploaded them. Where did those pages go? What should I do? Should I re-submit the signature pages.

A38: As stated above, once a document is uploaded, it is on the server to stay. Your signature pages should NOT have "disappeared."

Region 10 will address these situations on a case-by-case basis. Please call one of the following persons for assistance. If you do not reach the first one you try, call another on the list. Do NOT send an email!!!

David Ray: 972-348-1786
Gloria Key: 972-348-1536
Sue Hayes: 972-348-1110

Region 10 will determine what happened to the documents and will locate them.