The Office of State and Grantee Support Services (SGSS), headed by a Deputy Assistant Secretary who reports directly to the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, provides support to States and local educational agency grantees across a variety of Divisions and Groups administering ESEA grants. SGSS also administers discretionary grants that are related to the formula grants. For example, the Comprehensive Grants for State Assessment discretionary grant is funded from a set-aside of the ESEA Title I-B Assessment Grant program. The Office allocates funds, provides general and targeted technical assistance to grantees for Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability, monitors compliance with ESEA requirements, and facilitates data collection and analysis.
SGSS includes four Divisions:
- Division of State Support and Accountability,
- Division of Safe Schools,
- Division of Impact Aid Programs, and
- Division of Rural and School Improvement Programs.
Key Responsibilities
- Administer formula and discretionary grant programs;
- Manage formula and discretionary grants, cooperative and interagency agreements through all cycles of the grants process, including pre-award (planning), award, post-award, and close-out activities;
- Develop program requirements and contribute to the development of Department policy through drafting of necessary program documents;
- Manage and conduct grants monitoring for Federal requirements and fiduciary accountability;
- Support collection, review, and analysis of required data (e.g., EDFacts, CSPR, and APR);
- Provide general and targeted technical assistance to grantees to ensure consistency with Federal requirements;
- Draft program policies and documents (e.g., notice inviting applications (NIA) and regulatory and non-regulatory guidance documents;
- Engage with key internal and external stakeholders to gain relevant and practical understanding of the issues, challenges, and opportunities that program policies must address;
- Optimize the stewardship of taxpayer dollars by supporting the improvement of operational efficiency and effectiveness;
- Support the management of contracts related to programs, including information technology systems, as needed; and
- Use cross-program knowledge and develop lines of communication across the organization to better support the efficient management of grant funds and grantee support.
Offices and Programs under SGSS
Division of State Support and Accountability
- Title I, II and Accountability Group
- Title I
- Title II
- Assessment
- Title IV and Special Populations Group
- Title IV-A
- Title IV-B
- Title III-A
- Title I-D
- Homeless
- Foster Care
Division of Safe Schools
- Disaster and School Violence Response Group
- Project SERV
- Project Prevent
- Interagency Coordination
- School Safety Group
- School-based Mental Health Program Grants
- Mental Health Services Professionals Demonstration Grants
Division of Impact Aid Programs
- Discretionary School Construction Payments
- Payments for Federal Property
- Payments for Federally Connected Children
- Facilities Maintenance
Division of Rural and School Improvement Programs
- Title V Group
- Small, Rural School Achievement Program
- Rural and Low-Income School Program
- Insular Areas Group
- Consolidated Grants for Insular Areas
- Republic of Palau Grant