New 21st CCLC Grant Application FAQ's

Most Common Grant Application Questions

Q:  Who do I contact for questions about the 21st CCLC Grant application?   

A:  All inquiries about the 21st CCLC Grant application are submitted to: [email protected]

Q:  What are the eligibility requirements to apply for the 21st CCLC Grant?   

A:  To be eligible to apply for this grant, applicants must meet two criteria:

1.   ABSOLUTE PRIORITY - serve students who attend schools where there is not less than 40 percent economically disadvantaged students in the total school population.
2.   MINIMUM TOTAL ENROLLMENT- total enrollment of each school site must be greater than 138 students on October 1 to be eligible to apply for the 21st CCLC Grant.

Q:  Will applicants be required to use the Free-Reduced Price percentages from this year?     

A:  Yes, the Free-Reduced Price percentages from this year will be used to determine eligibility.   NOTE: The Free and Reduced-Price Percentage Report will be updated by February 2025.  ADE will use this report to verify the economically disadvantaged eligibility rate of each site.

Q:  Our school account was just added to Grants Management Enterprise (GME), and we would like to apply for the 21st CCLC grant, but the application doesn’t appear in GME under the funding applications. Who do we need to contact?                

A:  Since your school account was recently added to GME, see the FY26 Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance.  Please see the ADE Grants Management website at http://www.azed.gov/grants-management/ 

• If additional technical assistance is needed with submission of the online application, please contact Grants Management Staff at 602-542-3901/866-577-9636 or email [email protected]

Q:  Our school’s enrollment on October 1st was 134. However, the school site’s enrollment on January 4th was 145. Is it possible to use current enrollment when it comes to applying for the funding formula?

A:  No, all Applicants must use The Oct1 – October 1 Enrollment Report located in ADEConnect’s AzEDS Portal to determine the number of Regular Attendees for the Funding Formula.

Q:  Are we eligible to apply for the 21CCLC Grant for grades K-5 only, even though we are a K-8 school? 

A:  No, the total school population must be included to apply.  Your program may target students in Grades K-5; but total school enrollment must be submitted. See the FY26 Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance "Absolute Priority” information.

Q:  Our district is on a four-day week schedule, could we write Friday programing into our proposed plan?

A:  Yes, if your regular school days are defined as Monday through Thursday, the 21st CCLC program could run on Fridays when the regular school day is not in session.

Q:  How do applicants determine which private school students to include in the program if a qualifying private school chooses to participate?                 

A:  Applicants will determine which private school students will be included in the program as discussed with private school leaders during the consultation meeting to complete the required Form A - AFFIRMATION OF CONSULTATION FORM (Participation of Private School Students).

Q:  How do we get data on private school students since a private school may not use the same data as the public-school site?      

A:  Applicants will determine the student-level data that will be collected and determine with private school leaders how this data will be shared during the consultation meeting.  NOTE:  Access to student level data protected by FERPA is necessary to complete required state and federal reporting for this federal grant.

Q:  Which students from the private school are eligible to attend the program?          

A:  Private school students are eligible to attend the applicant’s program if:

•  they live within the applicant’s school attendance boundary
•  they qualify under the needs’ assessment information and targeted objectives of the submitted grant application

Q:  What are specific examples of data sources that would be considered ‘relevant’ verifiable data?  

A:  Income eligibility falls under “other verifiable data,” by definition.  It is available under the “Enrollment” tab here: Accountability & Research Data | Arizona Department of Education (azed.gov)

Q:  The Indirect Cost (IDC) rate for FY26 has not been approved by ADE yet. Can a placeholder for the IDC be used in the Grants Management System?    

A:  The Indirect Cost (IDC) rate can be included in 6600-2100 as a placeholder in your budget, if GME has not yet loaded the IDC rate for your district. 

*Not Applicable to Other Eligibility Entity (OEE) Budget Worksheet.

Q:  May we count Migrant Education Program (MEP) funding after school program hours toward our 8 hours of 21st CCLC program hours?

A:  MEP program hours may be counted toward your 21st CCLC program if you’re supplementing and not supplanting.  See the 21st CCLC Guidance Handbook Fiscal Year 2025 Edition for more information on supplement not supplant.

Q:  What registration and meal costs do we include in our budgets for FY26 required professional development (PD)?

A:  Budget should include costs for the annual professional development requirement for the 21st CCLC Principal and Site Program Coordinator(s).

• Example: Registration fees for the Site Coordinator and Principal to attend the REQUIRED 21st CCLC PD @ $200 per attendee = $400. 
• See the FY26 Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance regarding registration and meal cost information for the proposed budget.

Q:  Is the Charter responsible for providing transportation to private school students?

A:  No, the Charter is not required to provide transportation to private school students, but transportation costs are allowable. See the FY26 Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance for information about transportation.

Q:  Our principal resigned this year, do we still use the current principal’s name on the application?

A:  Yes, use the current Principal’s name at the time of the application.

Q:  Who should be signing the signature box at the bottom of the Assurances section in GME?

A:  The signature box of the Assurances section should reflect the name of the person completing the application.

Q:  Can you confirm the number of characters allowed per grant narrative response?

A:  There is a limit of 10,000 characters for each answer.  This includes commas, periods, spaces, tables, charts, etc. See the FY26 – Year 1 Grant Application Guidance under Application Tips.

Q:  Do applicants choose to serve multiple sites from the same district?

A:  Eligible Entities (Districts, Consortiums or Other Eligible Entities (OEE)) may submit up to 5 qualifying sites in their FY26 application. See the FY26 – Year 1 Grant Application Guidance under Application Tips.

Q:  Can students from two different 21st CCLC funded sites be served at one location?

A:  Yes, students from two different 21st CCLC funded sites may be served in one location. See the FY26 Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance for information under Cautions.

Q:  Should student attendance from two different 21st CCLC funded sites served at one location be kept separate?

A:  Yes, student attendance must be tracked to their specific 21st CCLC funded site.  See the FY26 Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance for information under Cautions.

Q:  Can an application be submitted with Validation “Errors” and/or “Warnings?

A:  Applications can only be submitted if there are no Validation “Errors”.  Applications can be submitted with “Warnings.”

1. To review any “Errors” and/or “Warnings” in GME, click on All “Messages” under Validation.
2. Then, the system will direct you to each warning and/or error listed in detail.
3. Then, click “Review” to the left of each item listed, so the system will direct you to the section that needs to be addressed.

Please see the ADE Grants Management website at: http://www.azed.gov/grants-management/    If additional technical assistance is needed with submission of the online application, please contact Grants Management Staff at 602-542-3901/866-577-9636 or email [email protected]

Q:  Does 21st CCLC require an external partnership?

A:  Yes, all 21st CCLC sites are federally required to maintain at a minimum one external partner annually for the duration of the grant.

Week 1 

Q:  We have 3 schools in year 5 of the current cycle, are they eligible to apply for FY26?

A:  Yes, if those sites meet the Absolute Priority for eligibility. See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under the Absolute Priority section on pages 6 – 10.

Q:  What were the minimum points scored for awarded applications in the last funding cycle?

A:  Since the 21st CCLC application is competitive, scores will vary every year with the number of awards being determined by the amount of funding received from the Federal Government. Therefore, there are no minimum points for awarded applications, as they will vary depending on the strength of the applications each year.

Q:  Where can I locate previously awarded applications?

A:  See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under the Previously Awarded Grants & To Access Previously Awarded Grant Applications section on pages 40 – 41.

Q:  Could you give us guidance and clarification on questions 2 and 3 under Sustainability?

A:  See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under Scoring Guidelines and Criteria on pages 28 – 30.

Q:  Is there any guidance as to what is considered the geographic area of a charter school?

A:  “A charter school LEA may consult with private school officials representing private schools and may limit consultation and services to eligible children and educators in private schools within a reasonable proximity of the charter school, even if the charter school LEA serves a larger geographic area.” (Title VIII, Part F of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965: Equitable Services for Eligible Private School Children, Teachers, and Other Educational Personnel Non-Regulatory Guidance, page 3-5).  

Q:  I submitted the 21st CCLC application last year.  What is the process for requesting the scores from that competition? 

A:  ADE’s Data Governance Office is responsible for sharing your previous scores.  A representative from the Data Governance Office will respond to all submitted requests.

• Visit the Public Records Request link below & on the Data Request Form click “Request for Public Records” to get your 21st CCLC scores from last year: https://www.azed.gov/data/public-record-requests

Q:  We are applying through the Other Eligible Entity (OEE) model, can you please provide additional information on the summer requirements?

A:  See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under Summer Term Assurance on page 36. 

Q:  For the Other Eligibility Entity (OEE) application, is it one application per site or one application per district?

A:  It is one application per site and a maximum of five sites per Eligible Entity.  See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance at the bottom of page 10.

Q:  Are there any additional advisements for Other Eligibility Entity (OEE) to consider in the application process?

A:  Since the 21st CCLC grant is a competitive grant, we cannot offer any additional advisement other than what is provided in the Grant Application, Guidance, Mandatory Forms, and Grant Resources found on 21st CCLC Competitive Grant webpage.  See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under Application Tips on page 33.

Week 2 

Q: Would it be possible to partially or fully fund a position for duties related to providing additional services, programs, and activities to students with this grant?

A:  Yes, it is possible to fund a position for 21st CCLC programs. See the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under the Recommended Budgetary Guidelines section on pages 25 – 26.

Q: I don’t see the Form A. Is the completion of Form A still a requirement?

A:  Yes, Form A is required.  Form A is found in GME under Related Documents (site level) or Grant Application, Guidance & Mandatory Forms tab of the Application Information webpage.

A:  Please utilize an extra page 1 of Form A. This will provide enough spaces to complete the information for all 4 private schools. This means you will upload a total of 3 pages for Form A with the first 2 pages containing all 4 private schools’ information and the 3rd page being the signature page.     

A: Additional mandatory required documents for Consortium and Other Eligible Entity Applications - Forms B & C will be available and assigned upon recommendation for award with the State Board of Education. Please see the FY26 – Cycle 21, Year 1 – NEW Grant Application Guidance under the “Final Reminders” section on page 40

Week 3 

Please check back on Friday, 2/14, for this week's questions.

Week 4 

Please check back on Friday, 2/21, for this week's questions.

Week 5 

Please check back on Friday, 2/28, for this week's questions.

Final List

Please check back on Monday, 3/3, at 5pm for the last minute questions.