The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education is offering the Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) Program grant to address the unique needs of rural school districts.

An LEA (including a public charter school that is considered an LEA under State law) is eligible for an award under the SRSA program if–
(a) The total number of students in average daily attendance at all of the schools served by the LEA is fewer than 600, or each county in which a school served by the LEA is located has a total population density of fewer than 10 persons per square mile; and
(b) All of the schools served by the LEA are designated with a school locale code of 7 or 8 by the Department’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), or the Secretary has determined, based on a demonstration by the LEA and concurrence of the State educational agency, that the LEA is located in an area defined as rural by a governmental agency of the State.
The school locale codes are the locale codes determined on the basis of the NCES school code methodology in place on the date of enactment of section 6211(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended.

Which Eligible LEAs Must Submit an Application To Receive an FY 2010 SRSA Grant Award?

An eligible LEA must submit an application to receive an FY 2010 SRSA grant award if it falls under any of the following categories:
1. The LEA never submitted an application for SRSA funds in any prior year;
2. The LEA received an SRSA grant for FY 2007, and, as of December 31, 2009, had not drawn down from the Department’s Grant Administration
and Payment System any of its FY 2007 SRSA funds;
3. The LEA was identified in a prior year on the SRSA eligibility spreadsheets as needing to re-apply for SRSA because of the absence of drawdown activity, but did not do so.

Please review the official application notice for pre-application and application requirements, application submission information, performance measures, priorities and program contact information.

Under the Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) Program, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) awards grants on a formula basis to eligible local educational agencies (LEAs) to address the unique needs of rural school districts. In this notice, we establish the deadline for submission of fiscal year (FY) 2010 SRSA grant applications.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 84.358A.

An eligible LEA that is required to submit an application to receive FY 2010 SRSA funds (in other words, an LEA that did not submit an application in a prior year, or was identified in a prior year as needing to re-apply because of the absence of drawdown activity) must submit an electronic application by June 30, 2010, 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time. If it submits its application after this deadline, the LEA will receive a grant award only to the extent that funds are available after the Department awards grants to other eligible LEAs under the program. Submission of an electronic application involves the use of the Department’s Electronic Grant Application System (e-Application) available through the Department’s e-GRANTS system. You can access the electronic application for the SRSA Program at: http://e-grants.ed.gov. When you access this site, you will receive specific instructions regarding the information to include in your application.