Title I, Part A, Section 1003 School Improvement Award (SIA) Allowable Use Guidance

The School Improvement Award (SIA) is funded by a federally required reservation of Title I, Part A funds to support school improvement, as described in Section 1003 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Local Education Agencies (LEAs) are awarded non-competitive grant funds based on a per pupil formula, weighting allocations based on the number of comprehensive and targeted schools in the LEA, previous SIA expenditure history, while ensuring that minimum allocations are sufficient to address school improvement priorities. Local educational agency (LEA) leaders and school teams must serve as effective fiscal stewards to ensure that all resources, including the SIA, address capacity building practices that have the demonstrated potential to address systemic challenges and to positively impact the trajectory of student outcomes. The goal of this manual is to provide SIA recipients with guidance on the appropriate use of this funding stream for each of the three years of the school identification cycle to implement activities prescribed in the ESSA Section 1111(d)(1)(B) for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools, the ESSA Section 1111(d)(2)(C) for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI) schools; and annual cycle of identification for Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) schools per the ESSA Section 1111(d)(2)(B).

The SIA is allocated to LEAs for the benefit of schools that meet the identification criteria for Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI) or Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI), as defined in the New Jersey Department of Education’s approved ESSA State Plan. SIA allotments are based on several school-specific metrics and shall not be transferred among identified schools, except in rare instances as directed by the Office of Comprehensive Support.

Important Note: The SIA shall not be used for any of the LEA’s non-identified schools.

The SIA project period for the initial allotment and the availability of carryover spans 27 months. The Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) project period and carryover availability are as follow:

FY25 Project Period: July 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025
FY25 Carryover Availability: July 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026

To ensure that students realize the intended benefits of federal funds, the ESEA requires Title I, Part A funds to supplement, and not supplant, State and local funds. Prior to the ESSA, LEAs complied with this requirement by ensuring that all Title I, Part A – funded resources satisfied several conditions. The ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, maintains that Title I, Part A funds must supplement State and local funds; however, LEAs demonstrate compliance in a different manner. Non-regulatory guidance from the US Department of Education indicates that “under ESSA, an LEA’s allocation of State and local funds to schools is examined as a whole to ensure that Title I, Part A funds supplement, and do not supplant, State and local funds… Therefore, an LEA must show that its methodology to allocate State and local funds to schools results in each Title I school receiving all of the State and local funds it would otherwise receive if it were not receiving Title I, Part A funds. In other words, an LEA’s methodology must be “Title I neutral” in that it allocates State and local funds to schools without regard for Title I status.” Further, ESEA 1118(b)(3)(A) indicates that no LEA shall be required to demonstrate that an individual cost or service is supplemental.

Effective planning for school improvement requires strategic utilization of limited resources in a cost-efficient manner. Purposeful budgeting is realized, in part, when grant funds are dedicated to capacity-building practices that have a long-term impact on student outcomes rather than on material acquisitions that have limited long-term value.

The purpose of Title I is to “provide all children with a significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable and high-quality education and to close educational achievement gaps.” Towards this end, the SIA supports implementation of evidence-based approaches in CSI, TSI, and ATSI schools that are designed to mitigate factors that hinder optimal educational outcomes, as identified through the comprehensive needs assessment (CNA), and to support the realization of progress goals, as outlined in the school improvement plan located within the Annual School Planning System. A thorough CNA is the foundation of an impactful Annual School Plan (ASP) that is aligned with the SIA purpose.

The CNA is a systematic approach to identify needs, to examine root causes, and to set priorities for addressing identified needs. In most instances, there is not sufficient time or resources to address all needs. The effective facilitation of the CNA process will aid ASP teams in identifying the most consequential areas to address the school’s improvement challenges. The CNA is an essential pre-requisite for all subsequent elements of the ASP, including the SIA budget. The ESSA law requires a solid, thoughtful, transparent, accurate assessment of the school’s challenges. Additionally, the school’s likelihood of success is dependent on high fidelity to the continuous improvement process, of which the CNA is a critical element. The efficacy of this step largely determines the likelihood of the SIA being used for high-impact, consequential practices. An essential component of the CNA is the identification of evidence-based strategies to address identified priority performance needs.

Evidence-based practices – which include activities, strategies, and interventions – are designated as such based on objective evidence of their efficacy. This evidence is designed to assist LEA and school teams in making informed decisions to ensure that limited resources are dedicated to efforts that are likely to have maximum impact on schools’ improvement challenges. The ESEA, as amended by the ESSA, defines four evidence tiers; however, only practices that meet the top three levels can be funded with the SIA, as illustrated below:

Evidence Tier	Tier Description Demonstrates a statistically significant effect on improving student outcomes or other relevant outcomes based on:	SIA Allowable?
1 Strong	Evidence from at least 1 well-designed and well-implemented experimental study.	Yes
2 Moderate	Evidence from at least 1 well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study.	Yes
3 Promising	Evidence from at least 1 well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias.	Yes
4 Demonstrates Rationale	High quality research or positive evaluation that such activity, strategy, or intervention is likely to improve student outcomes or other relevant outcomes. Includes ongoing efforts to examine the effects of such activity, strategy, or intervention.	No

ASP teams and district administrators must ensure that all SIA-funded resources reflected on the ASP’s SMART Goals panel are aligned with tier 1, 2 or 3 evidence-based practices listed on the Root Cause Analysis panel. Additionally, all costs must be consistent with federal cost principles as described below.

District and school leaders must ensure that SIA-funded evidence-based practices are consistent with basic cost principles as outlined in the Uniform Grant Guidance (UGG). The following information, abstract ted from the UGG, describes general criteria that shall be the basis for determining whether or not an expense is allowable:

Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles.
Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items.
Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally-financed and other activities of the non-Federal entity.
Be accorded consistent treatment. A cost may not be assigned to a federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost.
Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for state and local governments and Indian tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part.
Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally financed program in either the current or a prior period.
Be adequately documented.
Cost must be incurred during the approved budget period.

The following table, though not exhaustive, highlights the type of resources that are allowable if they meet the parameters described above - that is that the expenditure is consistent with the purpose of the SIA per the ESSA, the CNA and subsequent priority need, the evidence-based standard, and federal cost principles. This chart also includes a non-exhaustive list of items that are not allowed.

Instruction
Allowable Budget Items	Non-Allowable Budget Items
Evidence-based extended-day and extended-year opportunities to improve student outcomes. Evidence-based practices designed to address low high school graduation rates (e.g. early warning systems, drop-out prevention, credit recovery, etc.) Development and use of formative and interim assessments to monitor student progress and to inform instructional focus. Evidence-based software to supplement classroom instruction or to provide students with extended opportunities to master content. Instructional materials, supplies and equipment that are necessary to implement evidence-based practices and do not exceed 10% of the SIA budget. Instructional staff to implement evidence-based strategies that address the needs of students who are struggling with grade level content (e.g. content specialists, tutors, etc.)	Instructional resources that are not necessary to implement the evidence-based strategies included on the ASP’s Root Cause Analysis panel. Instructional materials, supplies and equipment that exceed 10% of the SIA budget. Educational excursions which are not a necessary component of an evidence-based practice.

Professional Development
Allowable Budget Items	Non-Allowable Budget Items
Coaches to facilitate implementation of evidence-based practices. External vendors with documented expertise in addressing the school’s priority performance need. Conferences focused on content aligned with the school’s comprehensive needs assessment. Stipends for educators to participate in professional development activities aligned to the needs assessment, including professional learning communities, after the contractual school day.	Professional development that is not aligned with the comprehensive needs assessment. Refreshments/meals for staff professional development sessions.

Climate and Culture
Allowable Budget Items	Non-Allowable Budget Items
Evidence-based practices that: enhance student attendance and engagement, address student discipline, provide mentoring opportunities that strengthen positive student-staff connections and interactions, ensures a safe environment conducive to learning for all students (includes anti-bullying and character development programs), and/or encourage student wellness and mindfulness.	Climate and culture practices that meet the ESSA tier 4 level of evidence.

Student Incentives
Allowable Budget Items	Non-Allowable Budget Items
SIA-funded student incentives are allowable if they: Do not exceed 5% of school’s SIA budget, Are a necessary component of an evidence-based strategy or practice, Have a clear award criterion in place, Are awarded for academic progress and/or behavior, Are educationally relevant; and Are of nominal value.	The SIA cannot fund: Incentives that are not a necessary component of an evidence-based practice, Incentives designed to encourage participation in a program or student attendance, Cash awards, gift cards, gifts, souvenirs, memorabilia, Entertainment, or Incentives which advertise a product or brand.

Parent/Family Engagement
Allowable Budget Items	Non-Allowable Budget Items
Salary/stipend for family engagement staff to facilitate implementation of evidence-based practices. Evidence-based family literacy and education initiatives. Evidence-based programs to encourage and inform families on how to extend instructional content at home. Training for school staff to increase positive collaboration with families. Childcare to make it possible for families to attend sessions focused on evidence-based practices. Light refreshments for evidence-based parent engagement workshops if: It is necessary for participants to be able to attend the session. The session occurs during a typical mealtime. Every effort was made to schedule the session outside of mealtimes: however, mealtime was most convenient to maximize parent/family participation. The cost of light refreshments does not exceed 1% of the SIA budget.	Incentives to encourage parent/family attendance or rewards for participation. Alcohol Advertising/public relations

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