Governor's Additional Emergency Nonpublic School (GAENS)

Available Funds

The Colorado Department of Education will award $2,000,000 for this program. Eligible applicants are invited to submit applications that meet the needs of their proposal up to a maximum of $100,000. Submission of an application does not guarantee funding or funding at the requested level.

Amount available for distribution: $2,000,000

Period of Availability: November 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023

Prioritizing Funding

The GAENS application will collect the total number of students as well as the number of students from low-income families. This data can come from Free or Reduced price lunch data or from a different source, such as scholarship or financial assistance data. The poverty data must be consistent across sources and cannot exceed 185% of the 2020 Federal poverty level.

If CDE receives requests exceeding the funds available, priority will be given to schools with a higher percentage of Free/Reduced Lunch students.

• Poverty data will not be used to determine the amount of funds available to non-public schools. Each school can apply for up to $100,000.
• Schools need to be thoughtful about what is being requested because there are limited funds available.

Eligibility

Funds are available to non-public schools that meet the following definitions below:

• Non-public elementary, secondary schools
• Consortium of non-public schools - An organization that represents a group of non-public elementary, secondary schools and has governing authority over the schools listed in the application. 
• Non-governing Consortium of non-public schools - An organization that is aggregating support for a group of non-public schools.

Note: There is no requirement to have a specific number of low-income students to be eligible for funding.

Non-Governing Consortia Applicants

Applications will be accepted from non-profit organizations that aggregate support for a group of non-public schools but do not have governing authority over the schools it represents. A non-public school within that consortium must be named as the applicant/fiscal agent, and the consortium lead must collect the Consortia Sign-Over agreement from each participating school to work on behalf of the schools included in the application.

The Consortia Sign-Over agreement must be submitted through the online application by October 21, 2022.

Allowable Use of Funds

A non-public school may apply to receive services or assistance from the SEA or its contractors for:

• Providing additional mental health support services, specifically in the areas of counseling, speech therapy, language, development, emotional and physiological impact from the pandemic contribute to academic excellence;
• Offering tutoring services and other enriched programs that would aim to increase students’ academic and social-emotional well-being; and
• Implementing other activities as specified in federal GEER requirements.
  • Activities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, including those activities allowed under ESSER including but not limited to:
    • coordination with public health;
    • purchasing educational technology;
    • planning for long term closures;
    • training and supplies for sanitation;
    • summer school and after school programs;
    • funds for principals to address local needs aligned with GEER requirements;
    • other activities to continue school operation and employment of existing staff if the expenses are reasonable and necessary to respond to COVID-19;
    • professional development and training for teacher on effective strategies for the delivery of remote and digital instruction.

All costs included in the application must be allowable, reasonable, and allocable to the grant purpose (i.e., necessary for the non-public school to respond to, prepare for, or prevent the spread of COVID-19). Funds cannot be used to reimburse activities that occurred prior to the effective date of this award period.

Section 312(d)(7) of the CRRSA Act states that the role of the State Education Agency (SEA) may be done through contract to provide services to non-public schools. CDE has entered into an agreement with FACTS Education Solutions to support the ARP EANS program. Applicants will work with FACTS Education staff to purchase allowable goods and services and hire eligible staff.

Purchase of goods, goods/services and or projects greater than $50,000

CDE will continue to manage the following purchases: 

1. purchase of goods with a single vendor over $50,000

2. purchase of related goods over $50,000, when a vendor has not been identified (laptops, licenses, monitors)

3. purchase where the total for goods and related services exceeds $50,000 (display boards, mounts, and installation

4. projects over $50,000 (capital improvement projects are not allowable)

Applicants will need to complete and submit the “CDE PURCHASES OVER $50K FORM” with their application for each request.

CDE and or FACTS Education will procure items or enter into contracts for services that are listed in the grantee's approved grant application. CDE purchases are subject to state procurement and fiscal rules, as well as the timelines for obligations that are part of the federal statute. CDE along with FACTS Education will make every effort to procure goods and services within the timelines specified in the grant but must also follow state procurement protocols--which can be time-consuming.

Data Privacy

CDE takes seriously its obligation to protect the privacy of student and educator Personally Identifiable Information (PII) collected, used, shared, and stored. PII will not be collected through the Emergency Assistance to Non-public Schools grant program. All program evaluation data will be collected in the aggregate and will be used, shared, and stored in compliance with CDE’s privacy and security policies and procedures.

Note: Documents submitted to CDE must not contain any personally identifiable student or educator information including names, identification numbers, or anything that could identify an individual. All data should be referenced/included in the aggregate and the aggregate counts should be redacted to remove small numbers under n=16 for students or n=5 for educators.

Review Process and Timeline

Applications will be reviewed by CDE staff to ensure they contain all the required components.

Submission Process and Deadline

Applications must be completed (including all elements outlined below) and submitted through the online application on the CDE Website by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 21, 2022.

Application resources and required documents to be included in the submission are available on the CDE website. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. Applicants can select to have a copy of their application emailed to them and should be redirected to a confirmation page upon submission. If you do not receive your copy of the application after selecting the checkbox, please email [email protected].

Required Elements

The GAENS online application form includes the following elements, all of which must be completed or submitted within the online application form. It is recommended that applicants refer to the paper application (linked above) and have all necessary files and data ready before entering data into the form.

CDE hosted a GAENS Training and Information Session on Tuesday, September 20th, 2022, from 3:00pm-4:00pm MST. The recording and presentation slide are linked below.

Additionally, during the application window, CDE will be hosting Office Hours to answer questions about application completion, procurement requirements, budget workbook, allowable use of funds, etc..

Office Hours will be held on:

• September 20th, 2022, from 3:00pm-4:00pm MST | PowerPoint | Recording
• September 27th, 2022, from 3:00pm-4:00pm MST | PowerPoint | Recording
• October 4th, 2022, from 3:00pm-4:00pm MST | PowerPoint | Recording | Facts Education Solutions Presentation
• October 11th, 2022, from 3:00pm-4:00pm MST |PowerPoint | Recording
• October 18th, 2022, from 3:00pm-4:00pm MST | PowerPoint | Recording | Facts Education Solutions Presentation (coming soon!)
• December 13th, 2022, from 3:00-4:00pm MST | PowerPoint | Recording

Please also visit CDE's GAENS Frequently Asked Questions page. CDE will update this page as new questions come in.

Application Assistance