Rural and Low-Income School Program

The purpose of the Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program is to provide rural districts with financial assistance for initiatives aimed at improving student achievement. The grant is non-competitive, and eligibility is determined by statute. Awards are issued annually to State education agencies (SEAs), which make subgrants to local education agencies (LEAs) that meet the applicable requirements. Awards are made to all SEAs that apply and meet the applicable requirements.

Program Description

Under the RLIS program, grants are made to SEAs with eligible school districts. SEAs subgrant RLIS funds to eligible school districts to pay for activities authorized under Titles I-IV of the ESEA, as well as parental involvement activities. If a State elects to not participate in the RLIS program, eligible LEAs from that State are considered specially qualified agencies (SQAs) and can apply directly to the Department for RLIS awards.  In order to be eligible school districts must have at least 20 percent of the children they serve come from families with incomes below the poverty line and be located in a rural area. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers for the RLIS and SQA programs are 84.358B and 84.358C.

Uses of Funds

LEAs that receive RLIS grants may use the funds to carry out the following types of activities:

• Title I, Part A (Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Education Agencies)
  • Example: A school district develops an entrepreneurial education program to supplement its civics curriculum.
• Title II, Part A (Supporting Effective Instruction)
  • Example: A school district pays the stipend for a prospective teacher to work alongside an effective teacher, who is the teacher of record, for a full academic year.
• Title III (Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students)
  • Example: A school district offers an afterschool enrichment program for English learners.
• Title IV, Part A (Student Support and Academic Enrichment)
  • Example: A school district purchases a bully prevention program for all schools.
• Parental and Family Engagement
  • Examples:
    • Professional development for school personnel regarding parent and family engagement strategies.
    • Providing materials to help parents improve their child's academic achievement (e.g. trainings on school online portals).
    • Enabling parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions (e.g. provide childcare).
    • Establishing formal parental advisory council.

How to apply for an RLIS grant (for SEAs)

The U.S. Department of Education annually produces a REAP Master Eligibility Spreadsheet (MES) to determine which LEAs are eligible for SRSA and RLIS. Below are links to the current and historical versions of the REAP MES. 

Click Here: Fiscal Year 2025 REAP Master Eligibility Spreadsheet

• The above link directs users to the REAP Master Eligibility Spreadsheet for the current year, FY 2025. Review the information and contact your REAP State Coordinator with updates.
• Note that if your LEA has submitted a request to update its primary contact or other LEA information, it may take up to a week to see that change reflected on the Master Eligibility Spreadsheet here.

Click Here: Historical REAP Master Eligibility Spreadsheets (FY22 - FY24)

• The above link directs users to Master Eligibility Spreadsheets for FY 2022, 2023, and 2024 (these spreadsheets also include final award information).

Who is Eligible?

An LEA is eligible to participate in the RLIS program if it meets the statutory criteria of being both low-income and rural (see ESEA section 5221(b)(1)).

1. To be considered low-income, 20 percent or more of the children ages five to 17 served by the LEA must be from families with incomes below the poverty line, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE). Rural non-geographic LEAs for which SAIPE data are not available that are eligible based on the same State-derived equivalent of SAIPE data that the State uses to make allocations under Part A of Title I of the ESEA, consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 200.72, are also eligible for RLIS funds.
2. To be considered rural, all schools comprising the LEA must have a school locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43 (assigned by NCES), or be located in an area of the State defined as rural by a governmental agency of the State.

RLIS-eligible LEAs do not receive their grant funds directly from the Department. The Department awards funds to SEAs administering the RLIS program, which in turn award subgrants to eligible LEAs based on SEA procedures. Therefore, an SEA may establish an award process that does not guarantee every RLIS-eligible LEA will receive a grant.

To see how RLIS differs from SRSA, view the Considerations for Dual-Eligible LEAs Venn Diagram.

RLIS Grant Program Performance

The RLIS program provides grant funds to rural LEAs that serve concentrations of children from low-income families. Under RLIS, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) awards funds to State educational agencies (SEAs), which in turn make subgrants to LEAs. An SEA may award the RLIS grant funds to its eligible LEAs via a formula or via a competition. In some cases, the Department awards RLIS funds directly to eligible LEAs; these LEAs are referred to as specially qualified agencies (SQAs). Whether receiving a subgrant from its SEA or a grant directly from the Department, an LEA uses these funds to support a range of authorized activities, in order to assist students in meeting challenging State academic standards.

As part of the Department's responsibility for fiscal and programmatic oversight and to identify areas in which SEAs and SQAs need assistance and support to meet their goals and objectives, the Department periodically assesses the extent to which SEAs and SQAs comply with RLIS program and fiscal requirements. Please see the two sections below specific to SEA performance reviews and SQA performance reviews:

SEA Performance Information

Recent monitoring reports detailing SEA compliance with RLIS program and fiscal requirements are available at the School Support and Accountability Performance webpage. SEAs preparing for a future monitoring review may wish to reference past monitoring reports from other SEAs to learn more about the requirements that the review is conducted against and the potential outcomes from a monitoring review. These outcomes include areas of commendation, areas that meet requirements, areas with recommendations from the Department, and areas with required actions that must be addressed in order to comply with RLIS program and fiscal requirements.

SQA Performance Information

The Office of Rural, Insular, and Native Achievement Programs (RINAP) is committed to supporting RLIS-SQA program grantees as they implement Federal grant programs. Part of this commitment includes a monitoring process designed to not only address RINAP's responsibilities for fiscal and programmatic oversight, but to also identify areas in which grantees need assistance and support to meet their goals and obligations. The monitoring process is anchored around ongoing conversations between RINAP program officers and grantees and is conducted using both off-site (desk) monitoring, as well as on-site monitoring visits to grantees.

The goal of the monitoring process is to conduct a program-centered, performance-focused review of fiscal and program requirements through a single, streamlined process that results in improved and strengthened partnerships between the Department and grantees. To accomplish this, the RINAP monitoring process is organized into specific grant performance topics, which reflect the programmatic and fiscal requirements of the RLIS-SQA program.

Monitoring reports are provided in the table below and assess an SQA's grant administration and fiscal management processes based on information provided through the review process, and other relevant qualitative and quantitative data. Monitoring reports are designed to communicate to SQAs and stakeholders the status of program implementation, noting areas where the SQA is excelling and areas that require attention.

Quick Links

• The REAP Quick Links document is a one-page resource that includes hyperlinks to resources and webpages for commonly asked questions related to the SRSA and RLIS grant programs.

Click here to view the REAP Quick Links document 

REAP Informational Document

• The REAP Informational Document is a comprehensive resource for recipients of the SRSA and RLIS grants and other stakeholders that includes essential information on relevant REAP processes, such as grant eligibility criteria, application process, allowable uses of funds, and the monitoring process.
  • REAP Informational Document (January 19, 2021)

REAP FAQ

• REAP FAQ

REAP Use of Funds

• REAP Uses of Funds Guide
• REAP Grant Performance Periods

UEIs and the System for Award Management (SAM)

• The Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) is a 12-character alphanumeric ID assigned to an LEA by SAM.
• All grantee LEAs need a UEI that is active and registered in SAM.gov to access REAP funds.
• The UEI registration and annual reactivation processes in SAM.gov are completely free.
• To check the registration status of your LEA's UEI, use the SAM.gov Status Tracker.
• To reactivate your LEA's UEI registration, log into your SAM.gov account or call 1-866-606-8220.
• You may also use the FSD.gov Live Chat to connect with a SAM agent directly.
• For more support, please visit REAP's UEI and SAM Support webpage.

Accessing Grant Awards in G5

• G5 is the U.S. Department of Education's (Department) online platform for grant management. Creating an account, logging in, and obtaining Payee Access allows SRSA grantees to view and draw down awarded grant funds across multiple fiscal years.
• To log in or create a new account, please visit www.G5.gov  
• For a step-by-step guide for accessing SRSA funds in G5, visit our G5 Support webpage.
• For questions about this transition, you may reach out to the Department's Office of Business Support Services helpdesk by calling 1-888-336-8930 or sending an email to obssed@servicenowservices.com.

Webinars

• FY 2025 SRSA Application Overview Webinar
  • Slides
• FY 2025 SRSA Application Webinar 2
  • Slides
• FY 2024 SRSA Welcome and Orientation Webinar
  • Webinar Recording | Slides
• UEI Registration and Validation for Rural LEAs (Webinar by GSA)
  • Webinar Recording | Slides
• Strategic Use of Funds: Title IV, Part A and REAP Funds Presentation
  • Slides

General Education Provisions Act (GEPA)

• REAP Guide to GEPA Statements for SRSA Grantees

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

• NCES Homepage
• Rural Education Resources
• NCES locale codes of individual schools
• NCES Locale Lookup Interactive Map

Additional Contact Information

• REAP State Coordinator Contacts
• To reach your U.S. Department of Education REAP Program Officer please email REAP@ed.gov 

RLIS Hold Harmless Eligibility

Impact of the Hold Harmless Provision on RLIS Eligibility in Fiscal Years (FY) 2021 through 2027

FY 2024 Update

On March 23, 2024, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, (the Act) became law. The Act increases the amount a local educational agency (LEA) eligible to receive an RLIS award under the program's "hold harmless" provision (described below) may receive in fiscal year (FY) 2024, from 66.67 percent to 83.33 percent of that LEA's FY 2019 RLIS award.

For more information on the hold harmless provision, refer to the below letter from the REAP Team sent to REAP State Coordinators on February 3, 2021, which has now been updated to reflect this change in percentage for FY 2024. 

Dear State Coordinator:

This letter addresses eligibility requirements for local educational agencies (LEAs) for fiscal years (FYs) 2021 through 2027 under the Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program given the hold harmless provision included in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2021 (Act), which became law on December 27, 2020.

As is the case each year, under section 5221(b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA), an LEA is eligible for an RLIS grant if (1) twenty percent or more of the children ages 5 through 17 served by the LEA are from families below the poverty line, as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau's Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) data or, for an LEA for which SAIPE data are unavailable, the same State-derived equivalent of SAIPE data that the State uses to make allocations under Part A of Title I of the ESEA and (2) it is rural based on the statutory criteria described in ESEA section 5221(b).

Starting in FY 2021, in accordance with a "hold harmless" provision in section 316(a) of the Act, when making RLIS awards in FYs 2021 through 2027, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) must also consider as eligible for an RLIS grant an LEA that does not meet the eligibility requirements in ESEA section 5221(b)(1) but (1) received an RLIS grant in FY 2019 on the basis of alternative poverty data submitted by the State, (2) had a service area in which less than 20 percent of children ages 5 through 17 were from families with incomes below the poverty line, as determined by SAIPE data in FY 2019, and (3) meets the rural eligibility criteria described in section 5221(b) of the ESEA for the fiscal year for which the current eligibility determination is being made.

The Department has determined that 198 LEAs across the nation received an RLIS grant in FY 2019 on the basis of alternative poverty data submitted by the State and had a service area in which less than 20 percent of children ages 5 through 17 were from families with incomes below the poverty line, as determined by SAIPE data in FY 2019 (i.e., there are up to 198 LEAs that fall under the hold harmless provision each year). A list of the 198 LEAs is available on the hold harmless (HH) tab of the Master Eligibility Spreadsheet (MES) available on the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) website at this link. Each of these LEAs will be eligible to receive an RLIS award under the hold harmless provision each FY with two exceptions. First, if, in a given FY, an LEA meets the eligibility criteria in ESEA section 5221(b)(1), the LEA will be eligible for the full amount of its award (i.e., its eligibility for that FY will not be based on the hold harmless provision but instead will be based on ESEA section 5221(b)(1)). Second, if an LEA does not meet the statutory criteria to be considered "rural" in a FY, it will not be eligible to receive an RLIS award under the hold harmless provision for that FY.

In each of the years included in the hold harmless period, an LEA that receives an award under the hold harmless provision will receive no more than the respective percent of the RLIS award amount the LEA received in FY 2019, as indicated in the chart below:

*Pursuant to the Act, 2024, the FY 2024 Hold Harmless percentage based on the LEA's FY 2019 award was increased from 66.67% to 83.33%.

To determine the RLIS allocation for each State, the Department determines whether each LEA in each State is eligible for RLIS and the estimated amount of each LEA's award, which, beginning with the Department's FY 2021 allocation process, will take into account, for an LEA eligible under the hold harmless provision, the award amount percentages included in the chart above. The FY 2021 MES on the REAP website provides initial information related to FY 2021 awards. Column N on the "HH" tab on the MES notes whether an LEA is eligible under either the eligibility criteria described in the ESEA (designated as "RLIS") or the hold harmless provision (designated as "HH"). The RLIS estimated allocation for each LEA is available in Column P on the "Eligibility-All LEAs" tab.

If you have any questions about RLIS eligibility, please contact the REAP team at REAP@ed.gov or 202-401-0039.

Sincerely,

Leslie Poynter
Group Leader, Rural Education Achievement Program

Appropriations

Amount of funding Congress approved for the Rural Education Achievement Program, by year. Also see how the REAP team distributes the funds between its two grant programs; SRSA and RLIS.