Frequently Asked Questions

If you can’t find the answer within the K12 SWP FAQ section below or through the Chancellor’s Office website, send an email to k12contracts@baccc.net.

Matching Questions

The grant requires a 2 to 1 match. If you are overmatched you may wish to reduce your match to what is required. This would have two advantages:

  • It would free up match for subsequent grant applications. 

  • It would reduce the amount of match you would be required to document. 

To adjust match, you would return to the application in NOVA, and go to the Lead and Partner Agency and Collaborative Partners tabs and change the amounts listed for Financial Contribution and In-Kind Match.

We’ve created this spreadsheet with calculations of each grant’s maximum indirect allowance based on the 2019-20 Indirect Rate established by CDE: K12 SWP Indirect Allowances. See the FAQ below on how the amount allowed under indirect is calculated.

Match funds must be spent no sooner than the start of the 30-month window and no later than the end of the 30-month window. Other than that, they are not required to be synchronized with your grant expenditures in any particular way. (6/3/19)

Recommendation Regarding Outcomes

The legislature and the Department of Finance have emphasized the importance of our showing that these funds are having a measurable impact. The following metrics have been defined for measuring K-12 Student outcomes:

  • Completed 2+ CTE courses in high school in the same program of study.
  • Completed 2+ CTE courses in high school in the same program of study that include early college credit, work-based learning, or third-party certification.
  • Graduated high school.
  • Enrolled in a CA Community College within one year of leaving secondary school.

The legislature and the Department of Finance have emphasized the importance of our showing that these funds are having a measurable impact. The following metrics have been defined for measuring Postsecondary student-level outcomes:

  • Entered registered apprenticeship after participation in high school pre-apprenticeship program.
  • Enrolled in another form of job training (other than CA Community College).
  • Completed 9+ CTE units in first year of CA Community College.
  • Attained a CA Community College certificate/degree or journey-level status. 
  • Transferred to a four-year institution after exiting CA Community College.

The legislature and the Department of Finance have emphasized the importance of our showing that these funds are having a measurable impact. The following metrics have been defined for measuring Employment student-level outcomes:

  • Employed in a job closely related to field of study after exiting CA Community College.
  • Median annual earnings of students after exiting CA Community College.
  • Attained a living wage after exiting CA Community College.

As only 2 of the 12 metrics can be measured while students are still enrolled in K-12, measuring and reporting leading indicators will be quite important to the Department of Finance and the legislature’s evaluation of the program. The Chancellor’s Office and CDE are currently developing these indicators. A draft version is available (K12 Strong Workforce Program Interim Metric Recommendations) and summarized below. These metrics are designed to require minimal effort to collect, to make use of data that is already collected, and to allow meaningful aggregation at a regional and state level. We encourage you to keep these in mind as you revise your workplan.

Summary of proposed leading indicators (these may change before becoming final)

Note that the specific metrics to be reported will depend on the pathway elements that are the focus of the grant

  • Identification of the elements and activities supported by the grant, grouped into the following categories: Curriculum & Instruction, College & Career Exploration, Post-secondary transition and Completion, Work-based Learning. These will be presented in checklist format. (See the draft for the current version of this list)
  • The following metrics will be reported at the course level. Grantees will be asked to provide the CALPADS course numbers for the classes served by the grant
    • Number of students enrolled in K12 SWP-supported CTE Pathways, by sector
    • Number of students enrolled in K12 SWP-supported College & Career Exploration coursework/programs
    • Number of students enrolled in K12 SWP-supported early college credit (Dual Enrollment, High School Articulation) offering
  • Work-based Learning
    • How WBL is being tracked
    • Number of students served by type of WBL

 

Another audience to keep in mind is the K-12 SWP Selection Committee. If you will be seeking additional funds in future rounds, the Selection Committee is required by the legislation to take into consideration performance on past grants. For this review, it is important to have clear, measurable outcomes and measures of performance and to ensure that you have planned for capturing and reporting your progress on meeting these outcomes.

Indirect Questions

Round 3 indirect is not to exceed 4% of the grant award.

CDE provides the following instructions on their Frequently Asked Questions about Indirect Costs webpage.

 

If indirect costs are allowed, the indirect cost rate can be used to budget the maximum amount of indirect costs allowable for a program and then to claim the actual amount of indirect costs after the program expenditures have been made. It is important to remember that when recovering/charging indirect costs, the indirect cost rate is applied to the amount actually expended, not the total amount budgeted. 

 

Example of budgeting for indirect costs: Assume an LEA’s approved indirect cost rate is 8.00 percent and the grant amount is $10,000. The LEA plans to spend the entire $10,000 in the same fiscal year and does not expect to spend any of the $10,000 on excluded costs (see question 5 for further information on excluded costs). Since the grant amount is for $10,000, and indirect costs are part of the grant amount rather than in addition to it, you must back into a budgeted indirect cost amount that keeps the grant from exceeding $10,000. To do this, divide $10,000 by 1.08, which equals $9,259.26. Then subtract $9,259.26 from $10,000, which equals $740.74. The $740.74 is the maximum amount the LEA could budget for indirect costs. (To test this, $9,259.26 times 8.00 percent equals $740.74, and $9,259.26 plus $740.74 equals $10,000.) (6/11/19)

We needed to isolate the indirect charges and didn’t understand that the 7000 category is only used for indirect.  We will request that indirect be reported in the 7000 category when the time comes for fiscal reporting. (6/11/19)

Allowable Expenditures Questions

If the upgrade is to network equipment such as routers, wifi access points and cabling, and these upgrades serve the auto shop only, they are eligible expenditures. If these expenditures benefit other programs not part of the pathway improvement it would be appropriate to charge the SWP grant proportional to the usage generated by the auto shop. If the upgrade is to network software and would not be required except for the autoshop, it is an eligible expense. Upgrades to the network software that benefit the entire campus would not be eligible expenditures. (6/7/19)

This would not be considered an eligible expense. Security, lighting, and other safety systems are generally considered to be part of plant and facility investments and would be considered capital improvements which are not eligible K12 SWP investments. (6/7/19)

Access to NOVA Questions

Anyone that is listed as a contact for the lead agency has access to the project in NOVA. To manage who has access, go to the Lead and Partner Agencies tab, scroll to the end of the Lead Agency section and click the Add Contact or trash can to add and delete contacts. (6/3/19)

Partner Questions

Please update your application to reflect your current plans for working with partners. If your application stated your intent to share funding with partners and you are no longer planning to do so, please update the application to reflect the level of engagement you now plan. (6/7/19)