001All right. Welcome everyone and thank you for joining us today for the 2026-2028 State Facilities Incentive Grant webinar. We're really glad you're here and today we'll walk through what the SFIC program is, who is eligible, how to apply, and how applications will be reviewed. My name is Chelsea Garcia and I'm the Deputy Director of Resources and Support in the Division of Charter School Authorizing and I'm joined today by Britney Aldridge, our Charter School Program Grant Specialist. We know your time is valuable, so we appreciate you spending part of your day with us. Please note that due to TEA policy, any AI note takers have been left in the waiting room and the recording of this webinar will be available on the TEA Grant Opportunities page next week. Before we dive in, we want to make
002sure you know how to reach us. These are the TEA staff members who support this grant. If you have any questions about eligibility, program requirements, or the application itself, Britney and Melissa are great points of contact. For funding or fiscal questions, the Competitive Grants inbox is the best place to reach out and we strongly encourage submitting questions in writing so that we can provide consistent guidance to everyone. Here is a quick look at today's agenda. We'll start with an overview of the program, then move into the application information and timelines, and after that we'll cover budget and allowable uses of funds, walk through the scoring and review process, and then end with next steps and resources. Good afternoon. First, we are going to start with the overview. This section sets the foundation for the rest
003of the presentation. We'll cover the authority behind the grant, the purpose of the program, and who is eligible to apply so everyone has a shared understanding before we get into application details. This slide explains the legal authority for the SFIC program. The Texas State Facilities Incentive Grant is allowed through the Department of Education Public Law 114-95, Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, also known as ESEA, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 or ESSA, Title 4 Part C Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools, and the Department of Education State Charter School Facilities Incentive Grant awarded to the TEA by the US Department of Education, and finally through the State of Texas Texas Education Code Chapter 12 in Texas Administration Code Chapter 100 Subchapter AA. The purpose of this program is to
004accelerate the impact of State Facilities funding by providing supplemental federal facilities funding to high-performing charter schools, increasing their capacity to serve Texas communities with the greatest need for educational choice. This marks the first time Texas has been awarded a State Facilities Incentive Grant from the US Department of Education. The SFIC program provides competitive grants to states to enhance per pupil facilities aid programs with federal funds designed to supplement, not supplant, existing state and local funding for charter school facilities. This program aims to reduce the burden of facility costs so that Texas charter schools can redirect operational dollars back into classrooms to serve the students who need the most support. Now, we will cover eligible applicants. Eligible applicants include an enrolled an open enrollment charter school authorized under Texas Education Code Chapter 12 Subchapter D that
005meets the following criteria. One, has not received unacceptable academic or financial ratings for two consecutive years in the prior two years. Two, completes an annual written certification that no administrator, officer, employee, board member, or close relative derives any financial benefit from a real estate transaction with the school. And three, is compliant with all statutory requirements for State Charter School Facility funding as outlined in Texas Education Code 12.106. An eligibility list is posted in the application and support information section of the TEA Grant Opportunities page. We will also drop a link to the eligibility list in the chat. For this grant cycle, there is just over 19 million dollars available with an estimated 95 awards. Funding is based on the average daily attendance with awards ranging from approximately $127 to $327 per ADA. Awards are capped
006at 5,000 ADA per applicant. Now, we will cover application funding. Each awarded school will receive $127 per ADA, but may receive up to $327 per ADA. Pending the number of eligible applicants, each grant award may be increased by an additional $100 to $200 per ADA to ensure the full allocation of funds for each grant year. ADA is defined in the Texas Education Code as the number of students in average daily attendance or the sum of attendance for each day of the minimum number of days of instruction as described under Texas Education Code 25.081A, divided by the minimum number of days of instruction. Regarding performance and evaluation measures, by submitting an application, the applicant agrees to comply with any reporting and evaluation requirements that may be established by TEA and agrees to submit the reports in
007the format and time requested by TEA. In addition, grantees will be required to cooperate with the team contracted to evaluate the use of grant funds. Next, we'll walk through the application process including timelines, required components, and what to expect after submission. This slide outlines important grant dates for this grant cycle. The Qualtrics application for eligible applicants was made available on the TEA Grant Opportunities page in late January and is due by March 27th, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time. If selected for funding, awarded applicants will then complete an eGrants application, which has an anticipated opening date of April 27th, 2026. The estimated grant start date is June 1st, 2026. However, the eGrants application final due date is June 26th, 2026. So, should an awarded applicant submit their eGrants application after June 1st, 2026, the
008notice of grant award will take place following the application submission. Please note these deadlines carefully as late submissions cannot be accepted. The grant end date is September 30th, 2028. The Informal Discretionary Competition process, otherwise known as IDC, may be new to you. This is the competitive process utilized for the SFIC Grant opportunity and we have included an overview of this process here. So first, as discussed, TEA publishes the grant opportunity and supporting documents on the TEA Grant Opportunities page. Then, eligible applicants submit a Qualtrics application by the specified deadline. The Qualtrics applications are then reviewed and scored. Following scoring, TEA announces applicants selected for funding. Applicants who selected are for funding must then submit and certify an eGrants application including assurances and a budget summary to receive funding. Following the eGrants application submission, budget negotiations
009will take place. Then after budget negotiations are complete, the notice of grant award or NOGA will be issued. This slide clarifies important grant timelines and terms. The grant start date is when costs can begin to be incurred, while the NOGA date is when reimbursements can officially begin. The grant end date is the final date by which all funds must be expended. To apply to the SFIC Grant opportunity, eligible applicants must first complete all portions of the Qualtrics application and submit by the identified deadline. To be considered complete, the Qualtrics application must include Attachment One that is required with the Qualtrics application is the annual written certification that no administrator, officer, employee, board member, or close relative derives any financial benefit from a real estate transaction with the school. There is no template for this document
010as it is provided by the applicant. If awarded, additional attachments are required to be included with the eGrants application. These attachments include the completion of a provided federal definition of a charter school form and a provided Build America, Buy America Act or BABA form. Please do not forget to submit the required attachments. Additionally, any unsolicited attachments will not be reviewed. These next few slides outline the assurances applicants must agree to when applying in the Qualtrics application. Please bear with us as we have to read these word for word. By applying, schools certify compliance with all of these assurances for the entire duration of the grant. One, the applicant provides assurance that program funds will supplement, increase the level of service, and not supplant, replace, state mandates, State Board of Education rules, and activities previously conducted
011with state or local funds. The applicant provides assurance that state or local funds may not be decreased or diverted for other purposes merely because of the availability of these funds. The applicant provides assurance that program services and activities to be funded from this IDC will be supplementary to existing services and activities and will not be used for any services or activities required by state law, state board of education rules, or local policy. Two, the applicant assures that the application does not contain any information that would be protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act or FERPA from general release to the public. Three, the applicant assures to adhere to all the statutory and TEA program requirements as noted in the 2026-2028 State Facilities Incentive Grant or SFG program guidelines. Four, the applicant assures to
012adhere to all the performance measures as noted in the 2026-2028 State Facilities Incentive Grant program guidelines and shall provide TEA upon request any performance data necessary to assess the success of the program. Five, the applicant assures that they accept and will comply with every student succeeds act provisions and assurances requirements. Six, the applicant assures that any electronic information resources produced as part of this agreement will comply with the State of Texas accessibility requirements as specified in 1 TAC 206, 1 TAC chapter 213, federal section 508 standards, and the WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility guidelines. Seven, the applicant acknowledges that per section 22.0834 of the Texas Education Code, any person offered employment by any entity that contracts with TEA or receives grant funds administered by TEA, for example, a grantee or subgrantee, is subject to the fingerprinting
013requirement. TEA is prohibited from awarding grant funds to any entity, including nonprofit organizations, that fail to comply with this requirement. Eight, the applicant assures that it currently meets the federal definition of a public charter school and if for any reason does not continue to meet the definition during the grant period, will immediately notify the grant program contact. A charter school is not eligible to receive any federal funds anytime, formula or discretionary, from TEA if it does not comply with this definition. Nine, the applicant assures to adhere to the Build America Buy America Act. 10, the applicant assures to adhere to the Davis-Bacon Act. 11, the applicant assures that it has not relinquished full or substantial control of the charter school to a for-profit management organization or other for-profit entity and that it is physically fiscally
014responsible and transparent, particularly with respect to contractual relationships with for-profit management organizations. And 12, the applicant assures that it will maintain clear documentation and data for this grant program, will comply with any recording and evaluation requirements that may be established by the TEA, and will submit the reports in the format and manner requested by TEA's Division of Financial Compliance. Grantees will be required to cooperate with the team that has been contracted to evaluate the use of grant funds. 13, the applicant assures that once available, it will complete at least one facilities training or workshop annually. 14, by certifying acceptance of and compliance with these provisions and assurances, the applicant further certifies that noncompliance with any of these provisions and assurances may result in the forfeiture of participation in this grant program. And lastly, 15, the
015grant program will be funded by reimbursement. Once the NOGA, or notice of grant award, has been issued and the set grantee submits payment requests through the expenditure reporting system, or ER system, the grantee is required to regularly request payment for allowable expenditures as grant program requirements are carried out. Thank you for bearing with me through all of those assurances. I will pass it to Brittany for budgeted and use of funds. You're muted, Brittany. I apologize. All right, moving on to um some grant basics. First, the grant start date will depend on when the funding memo is released to the public. All expenditures and services must take place within the grant period. Subgrantees will have access to their NOGA and be able to submit requests for reimbursement after negotiations are complete. Requests for reimbursement are entered
016through the expenditure reporting system and require proper source documentation for approval. And lastly, amendment requests must be submitted and approved before the proposed activity or budget change takes place. Now, let's review the allowable activities and use of funds. General allowable activities and use of funds include the following: rent on a school facility, purchase of a building for a school facility, purchase of land with immediate plans to construct a school facility, construction of a school facility, renovation of an existing school facility, leasehold improvements of a on a school facility, debt service on a school facility, and please remember that all expenditures must comply with the Build America Buy America Act where applicable. This is very important, so we just want to highlight that expenditures can be used to support improvements to existing charter school facilities and
017do not require campus expansion, replication, or the opening of a new school. And this is just a friendly reminder, only the purchase of land with immediate plans to construct a school facility is allowable. The next few slides explain the Build America Buy America Act requirements for infrastructure-related expenditures. Certain materials must be produced in the United States depending on how they are categorized. Not all items are subject to the Build America Buy America Act, but applicants should carefully review these requirements when planning construction-related projects. In the next few slides, I'll be going into further detail about the Build America Buy America Act. There is a lot of information included in these slides and we encourage you to re-review these requirements, which can also be found in the program guidelines for this grant. Here are the Build
018America Buy America Act grant conditional domestic content procurement preference requirements. Expenditures for infrastructure projects or activities, for example, construction and broadband infrastructure, must comply with the following requirements. All iron and steel used in the infrastructure project or activity are produced in the United States. Accordingly, all manufacturing processes from the initial melting stage through the application of coatings occurred in the United States. Two, all manufactured products in the infrastructure project or activity are produced in the United States. Accordingly, the manufactured product was manufactured in the United States and the cost of the components of the manufactured product that are mined, produced, or manufactured in the United States is greater than 55% of the total cost of all components of the manufactured product unless another standard for determining the minimum amount of domestic content of the manufactured
019product has been established under applicable law or regulation. And three, all construction materials are manufactured in the United States. Accordingly, all manufacturing processes for the construction material occurred in the United States. The Buy A The Build America Buy America domestic sourcing requirement only applies to articles, materials, and supplies that are consumed in, incorporated into, or affixed to an infrastructure project. This requirement does not apply to the following: tools, equipment, and supplies such as temporary scaffolding brought to the construction site and removed at or before the completion of the infrastructure project. It also does not apply to equipment and furnishings that are used at or within the finished infrastructure project but are not an integral part of the structure or permanently affixed to the infrastructure project. Now, let's go over the categorization of articles, materials, and
020supplies. An article, material, or supply should only be classified into one of the following categories: iron or steel products, manufactured products, construction materials, and section 70917C materials. An article, material, or supply should not be considered to fall into multiple categories. In some cases, an article, material, or supply may not fall under any of the categories listed above. The classification of an article, material, or supply as falling into one of the categories listed above must be made based on its status at the time it is brought to the work site for incorporation into an infrastructure project. In general, the work site is the location of the infrastructure project at which the iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials will be incorporated. Application of the Build America Buy America Act domestic content procurement preference. An article material
021or supply incorporated into an infrastructure product must meet the Build America Buy America Act domestic content procurement preference for only the single category in which it is classified. Definitions for iron or steel products, manufactured products, and construction materials are available in 1.4.184.3 of 2 CFR part 184, the Buy America preferences for infrastructure projects. Build America Buy America Act section 70917C establishes limitation with respect to aggregates accordingly. One, the term construction material shall now include cement and cementitious materials, aggregates such as stone, stone, sand, or gravel, or aggregate binding agents or additives. In determining whether the cost of components for manufactured products is greater than 55% of the total cost of all components, use the following instructions. For components purchased by the manufacturer, the acquisition cost, including transportation cost to the place of incorporation into the
022manufactured product, whether or not such costs are paid to a domestic firm, and any applicable duty, whether or not a duty-free entry certificate is issued, or for components manufactured by the manufacturer, all costs associated with the manufacture of the component, including transportation cost as described in the paragraph A, plus applicable overhead costs, but excluding profit. Cost of components does not include any costs associated with the manufacture of the manufactured product. Moving on to construction material standards. The Build America Buy America Act domestic content procurement preference applies to the following construction materials incorporated into the infrastructure projects. Each construction material is followed by a standard for the material to be considered produced in the United States. Except as specifically provided, only a single standard should be applied to a single construction material. First, non-ferrous materials. All
023manufacturing processes from initial smelting or melting through final shaping, coating, and assembly occurred in the United States. Plastic and polymer-based products. All manufacturing processes from initial combination of constituent plastic or polymer-based inputs, or where applicable, constituent composite materials until the item is in its final form, occurred in the United States. Glass. All manufacturing processes from initial batching and melting of raw materials through annealing, cooling, and cutting occurred in the United States. And fiber optic cable, including drop cable. All manufacturing processes from the initial ribboning, if applicable, through buffering, fiber stranding, and jacketing occurred in the United States. All manufacturing processes also include the standards for glass and optical fiber, but not for non-ferrous material metals, plastic and polymer-based products, or any others. Continuing construction material standards. Optical fiber. All manufacturing processes from the initial preform
024fabrication stage through the completion of the draw occurred in the United States. Lumber. All manufacturing processes from initial debarking through treatment and planning occurred in the United States. Drywall. All manufacturing processes from initial bending of mined or synthetic gypsum plaster and additives through cutting and drying of sandwich panels occurred in the United States. And lastly, engineered wood. All manufacturing processes from the initial combination of constituent materials until the wood product is in its final form, occurred in the United States. Now, let's move on to cover the unallowable activities and use of funds. General unallowable activities and use of funds include the following. Payroll costs, professional and contracted services not related to the activities specified in the allowable activities and use of funds section, consumable and durable supplies and materials not related to the activities specified
025in the allowable activities and use of funds section, debt services not directly related to a school facility, capital outlay not related to the activities specified in the allowable activities and use of funds section, travel for students to conferences, field trips, and stipends for non-employees. More unallowable activities and use of funds include non-employee costs for officials travel costs for officials such as executive director, superintendent, or board members, the cost of membership in any civic or community organization, hosting or sponsoring of conferences and advisory council, expenditures that do not comply with the Build America Buy America Act where applicable, any activity not specified in the allowable activities and use of funds section. Applicants should review this list closely to avoid disallowed costs. Now, we'll explain how applications are reviewed and scored. Applications from eligible applicants will be
026scored on priorities A through D listed here. Overall scores will then be ranked from highest to lowest score. Awards will then be selected and ranked order until all funding is exhausted. Priority A is the regional need for choice, which is determined by the associated Senate district tier. Priority B is the school economically disadvantaged rate. Priority C is the district academic performance, and priority D is the waitlist. We will dive further into each of these priorities soon. First, we would like to highlight the process for ties and insufficient funds for the final award. For applicant ties, if the available funding does not allow for applicants within the same overall score to be funded, applications within the score band will be further ranked by overall 2025 A through F accountability scale scores, and then funded from top
027to bottom until all funds are exhausted. If multiple applicants within the score band also share the same scale score and cannot be fully awarded, these applicants will be further stack ranked based on higher 2024-2025 economically disadvantaged rates. For the final awarded applicant, if sufficient funds are not available to provide a full award, a partial award will be extended. Should the final awarded applicant decline the partial award, it will then be offered to the next highest ranked applicant until acceptance. This slide outlines the four competitive priorities and their associated points. For priority A, regional need for choice, tier one receives one point, tier two receives two points, and tier three receives three points. For priority B, school economically disadvantaged rates, over 60% receive one point, and over 80% receives two points. For priority C, district academic
028performance, if the applicant is eligible for high-quality designation, it receives four points. If the applicant is not eligible for high-quality designation, two points will be received for either an A or B academic rating in the most recent year, or one point will be received for a C academic rating in the most recent year. For priority D, one point will be received if the applicant has a waitlist of over 25 students. We will now dive into each priority further. First, with priority A, regional need for choice. For this competitive priority, applicants will be assigned to a tier level and awarded the associated points by tier. For single-campus charter school districts, the tier will be based upon the Senate district where the campus is located. Applicants that have campuses that cover multiple Senate districts will be assigned
029to the tier in which they have the highest number of students enrolled across all campuses. Again, you can see the breakdown of points here. Next, we'll review the associated regional need for choice tiers for each Senate district. The 31 state Senate districts in Texas have been tiered with the highest need districts identified as tier three. The tiers were created based on the percentage of all public school campuses in the Senate district that are identified for federal comprehensive or targeted support and improvement and/or F-rated for the student achievement domain in Texas accountability system. The table here outlines the regions across Texas identified as having the highest need for school choice based on the 2023 accountability data. This table will not change throughout the entirety of the grant period. Now, I'll give you a moment to review
030the tiers. This table is also included in the program guidelines. Moving into priority B, school economically disadvantaged rate. Applicants will receive one point if their economically disadvantaged rate exceeds the statewide rate of 60%, and two points if the rate exceeds 80%. The applicant data to determine this priority will be collected from the 2024-2025 economically disadvantaged status reports. Again, you can see the breakdown of points here. Moving on to priority C, district academic performance. High-quality campus designation. Applicants identified as eligible for high-quality campus designation will receive four points. To be eligible for the high-quality campus designation, applicants must meet the following criteria. One, the charter holder has operated at least one charter school campus in Texas for a minimum of five consecutive years. Two, the charter school has been evaluated under the standard Texas accountability system,
031has an accreditation status of accredited, is currently evaluated under the standard accountability procedures, currently has an A or B rating at the local education agency level, and has an A or B rating in the previous 2 years in which ratings were issued with each campus that received a rating and operated under the charter also receiving an A or B rating in the most recent state accountability ratings. Please note that criterion two will be expanded to include schools evaluated under the alternative education accountability or AEA system. Three, no charter campus has been identified for federal interventions in the most current report. Four, the charter school is not under any sanction imposed by TEA or federal requirements. And five, the charter school is rated tier one in the most recent CSPF under Texas administrative code 100.1035 C6.
032If an application is not identified as eligible for high-quality campus designation, the next slide will detail the associated points. If an applicant is not eligible for the high-quality campus designation, the applicant will be awarded the associated points based on their most recent accountability rating. So again, you can see the breakdown of points here. If the applicant is rated A or B in the most recent year for academic performance, two points will be awarded. If the applicant is rated C in the most recent year for academic performance, one point will be awarded. No points will be awarded for any academic performance rating not seen on the chart here. And please note if an applicant receives the four points for being eligible for high-quality designation, they do not receive additional points based on the academic performance rating
033for the most recent year. Now, we're moving into the final priority, wait list. Applicants with wait list of 25 students or more will be awarded one point. The applicant data to determine this priority will be collected from the 2024-2025 wait list report. Again, you can see the breakdown of points here. The next two examples, we are going to walk you through how points are calculated for different types of schools. This is designed to help applicants better understand how the scoring priorities work together. Here is just a refresher on how the points work for scoring purposes. I'll give you a couple moments to look over it again, and this is also provided in the program guidelines. Starting with example one and school A. School A is a single campus charter school that is located in Senate
034District 26, which is a tier three Senate District. Their economically disadvantaged rate is 85% and the most recent accountability rating was eligible for high-quality designation. They have a wait list of 120 students. School A's total score is 10 points, which is the maximum possible score. School A demonstrates strong academic performances, serves a high-need population, operates in a high-need region, and shows significant demand through its wait list. Let's look at example two and school B. School B is a multi-campus charter school with the majority of students enrolled in Senate District 22, which is a tier two Senate District. Their economically disadvantaged rate is 68% and their most recent year accountability rating was a B. They have a wait list of 40 students. School B has a total score of six points. School B serves a moderately
035high-need population and shows enrollment demand, but does not qualify for tier three regional need or the high-quality campus designation. And lastly, let's look at example three and school C. School C is a single campus charter school that is located in Senate District 17, which is a tier one Senate District. Their economically disadvantaged rate is 55% and their most recent accountability rating is a C. They have a wait list with 10 students. Their total score is two points. School C serves a lower-need region, has a smaller economically disadvantaged population, and does not demonstrate enrollment pressure through a wait list. We are moving into our final portion of the webinar, and we really want to thank you again for taking the time to join us today. We will start with resources and then move into next steps.
036I do want to note that I've seen several questions in our chat. All of these questions will be addressed in our FAQ, and we'll speak more about that towards the end. All application materials, including program guidelines and required forms, are posted on the TEA grant opportunities page. You can see a screenshot of that page here. We strongly recommend reviewing all documents carefully before submitting an application. We would like to highlight that the Qualtrics sample application can be found on this page. The sample application will allow you to review what is required in the Qualtrics application before starting it. Please note that no paper applications are accepted. The application must be fully completed and submitted in Qualtrics by the identified deadline. If you have a question or questions regarding this grant opportunity, they must be submitted
037in writing by March 6th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Central Time to be included in the FAQ. I want to note we'll also include the questions included in the chat in the FAQ as well. So if you have added a question in the chat, you do not also need to email it. But for any questions following this webinar, please email to the email there with Melissa. We will compile and post the responses publicly so that all applicants have access to the same information. And the FAQ will be available on the TEA grant opportunities page no later than March 13th, 2026. This is a final reminder that the Qualtrics application is due March 27th, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time. Late submissions will not be accepted. All eligible applicant superintendents received an email with a unique
038Qualtrics application link. But if you are unable to find this email, please email Melissa Minor at [email protected], and she will send you an updated link. Please note that with the Qualtrics application, once it is submitted, it cannot be reopened. So please closely review all components of the application before submitting. Thank you again for joining us today and for your interest in the state facilities incentive grant. We greatly appreciate the work you do to serve Texas students and look forward to reviewing your application.