Questions and Answers Regarding the School Counselor Residency 

Capacity Grant Program Request for Applications (RFA)

February 7, 2025

1. Question: If we are awarded, and need to make a budget revision, what is that process?
   Answer: Grantees are permitted to adjust spending only in categories in which they allocate funds on Appendix G. New categories cannot be added after the award is made. The grant award agreement will provide more details about moving funds in excess of 10% of the grant award amount.

September 6, 2024

1. Question: On page 13 of the RFA, Appendix E is listed as a required document; however, this appendix is not listed in the “Components to be Addressed in the Applicant’s Response.” Is Appendix E part of the “Components to be Addressed in the Applicant's Response”?
   Answer: Appendix E is a requirement of the application that is not part of the scored narrative components, which is why it is not listed in the “Components to be Addressed in the Applicant’s Response” section. Applications submitted without Appendix E are considered incomplete. To be awarded a School Counselor Residency Capacity grant, applications must have a fully signed and submitted Appendix E.
2. Question: Page 13 of the RFA states that Appendix D should be included after the narrative responses (outlined in Section II). However, on page ten of the RFA, Appendix D is included as part of narrative response #2. In what order should applicants submit Appendix D?
   Answer: Appendix D can be submitted in either order. Applicants can include Appendix D with their narrative response to #2 (Local Need), or they can include it after all narrative responses. 

January 26, 2024 

1. Question: We are a partner LEA in a consortium that has applied for a capacity grant. As an individual LEA, we are interested in submitting another capacity grant application to build our program. Is there any issue with us submitting another capacity grant application?
   Answer: This is a local decision. The legislation does not limit the number or type of grants to which an LEA or consortium could apply.
2. Question: We are planning to submit an application for the School Counselor Residency Capacity grant between an IHE and a consortium of high schools through our County Office of Education. If we apply as a consortium and are awarded the grant, is the award amount $250,000 total or $250,000 per LEA involved in the consortium?
   Answer : The maximum capacity grant award per application is $250,000 and the local education agency (LEA) named as the lead LEA of the consortium would be the fiscal agent and responsible for coordinating reporting requirements.
3. Question: Legislation states that grantees must match at a rate of eighty cents ($0.80) for every one grant dollar ($1) for the first $25,000 in grant funding received per participant. Since Capacity grantees do not provide funding to participants directly, is a match required?
   Answer: At the time that this School Counselor Residency Capacity Grant Request for Applications (RFAs) was released, matching funds were required for capacity grantees. The grants team has been informed this is no longer a requirement for capacity grantees. 
   Since many applicants have already submitted applications using the posted School Counselor Residency Capacity Grant RFA, Commission staff will not be updating the RFA until it is re-released in fall 2024. Funded applicants will be notified of this change upon receipt of the formal award letter and previously funded applicants will be contacted by staff.

November 20, 2023

1. Question: What percentage of indirect costs are allowed for the School Counselor capacity grant?
   Answer : There is no limit on the percentage of a School Counselor Residency Capacity grant award that can be allocated to program administration or indirect costs.
2. Question: We are going to apply for the School Counselor Residency Capacity grant on behalf of multiple county offices of education across the state. Each COE will work to build out a School Counselor Residency Program in concert with the LEAs and COEs in their region. In the application, there is an area to list the names of schools for resident placement. Due to the nature of how we are applying, this list would potentially cover the state of California. How do we address the school site list, due to the large nature of our consortium?
   Answer: In this situation, please list proposed school districts within the consortium (as opposed to individual school sites) and the requested corresponding information.
3. Question: We see that the capacity grant for the School Counselor Residency is due either in December or February, and the Implementation is due in January. Can we apply for both the implementation grant in January and the capacity grant in February?
   Answer: Yes. This is a local decision. Eligible applicants are free to apply to RFAs when they are prepared to do so. Funding from multiple School Counselor Residency Grant funded programs may be spent concurrently.

March 24, 2023

1. Question: Can these funds be used to support development of a new CTC Approved PPS School Counseling Program? We don’t have one and would like to partner with our county to develop one.
   Answer: These grant funds cannot be used to support development of a PPS School Counseling program that is not already approved by the Commission. Per authorizing legislation, grant funds must be used in partnership with “one or more Commission-approved professional preparation programs offering preparation in school counseling provided by a regionally accredited institution of higher education.” This requires there to be a current Commission-approved PPS School Counseling program for an LEA to apply for these grant funds to develop a school counselor residency program in partnership with the IHE.