Section 1005.10  Purpose

 

This Part contains application procedures and grant criteria for grants to be provided in support of studies related to student dropout prevention at the secondary school level.

 

Section 1005.20  Eligibility and Grant Application Procedures

 

a)         Public and nonpublic Illinois institutions of higher education as defined below shall be eligible to apply for grants under this program.

 

1)         "Nonpublic institution of higher education" means an educational organization, other than a public institution of higher education, which provides a minimum of an organized 2 year program at the private junior college level or higher and which operates not-for-profit;

 

2)         "Public institution of higher education" means the University of Illinois, Southern Illinois University, the several universities and colleges under the governance of the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities, the several Regency Universities under the jurisdiction of the Board of Regents, the public community colleges of this State, and any other public universities, colleges and community colleges now or hereafter established or authorized by the General Assembly (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 144, par. 282).

 

b)         Applicant institutions shall submit the following materials:

 

1)         Statement of the goals and objectives of the proposed study as related to the underlying reasons for and prevention of secondary level school dropouts;

 

2)         Statement of need for the study;

 

3)         Description of the proposed study including methodology, data sources and anticipated completion date;

 

4)         Estimated resource requirements and source(s) of funding.

 

c)         The Board reserves the right to request additional information or a meeting between its staff and the applicant institution in order to clarify or substantiate the information provided in the application materials.  In the event that material submitted by an applicant institution is not of sufficient detail to provide an understanding of the proposed project or its justification, the Board would request additional information for clarification or substantiation.

 

d)         Application information may be obtained from and shall be submitted to:

 

            Educational Partnership Grants

            Illinois Board of Higher Education

            500 Reisch Building

            4 West Old Capital Square

            Springfield, Illinois 62701

 

Section 1005.30  Grant Criteria

 

a)         The application materials requested by the Board of Higher Education and provided by the applicant institution will be reviewed in terms of whether the stated need for the study is consistent with the Act and with this Part.

 

b)         In review and approval of a grant application, the Board shall consider equally all of the following factors that are relevant to the proposal:

 

1)         Provision for the use of a uniform definition of a secondary school "dropout" student as follows:

 

            "any child or student eligible to attend school in grades K-12 and who is no longer enrolled in a school district for any reason other than the person's death, extended illness, graduation or completion of a program of studies, or transfer to another school system."

 

2)         Provision for cooperation with local school districts, Educational Service Centers, and the State Board of Education in the collection, reporting, and documentation of dropout data;

 

3)         If the proposal is targeted at a specific racial/ethnic group, the racial/ethnic population distribution of the school district or the area of study as compared to the statewide racial/ethnic population distribution shall be considered;

 

4)         The location of the proposed study;

 

5)         Provision for dissemination and sharing with local, regional and statewide organizations and task forces the results and any reports issued as a result of the adopted study;

 

6)         Reasonable expectation that the methodology will accomplish goals and objectives within the anticipated time frame and with anticipated grant funds.

 

Section 1005.40  Grant Agreement

 

a)         At such time that the Board takes action on grant proposals, the institutions will be notified in writing.

 

b)         At such time that a grant is approved, the Board of Higher Education and the applicant institution shall execute a grant agreement.

 

c)         Such grant agreement shall:

 

1)         be signed by the chief executive officer or the chairman of the institution's governing board;

 

2)         specify the period of time for which the grant is valid and during which the grant funds may be expended;

 

3)         include a copy of the proposal with any agreed upon changes so indicated;

 

4)         comply with the terms of the Illinois Grant Funds Recovery Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1983, ch. 127, pars. 2301 et seq.);

 

5)         provide that the institution shall submit to the Board a full accounting for expenditure of all funds provided under the grant agreement, indicating the amounts and the objects of expenditure;

 

6)         provide that all funds remaining at the end of the period of the grant agreement or which are spent for purposes not listed in the grant agreement shall be refunded to the State of Illinois.