Today is first day for Kentucky districts to apply for $10,000 dropout prevention planning grants based on board policy adoptions

From Kentucky Department of Education

The Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 97, which raises the compulsory attendance age to 18, in its 2013 regular session.  Adoption of this policy is voluntary until 55 percent (96) of districts adopt the policy. Once 55 percent have adopted the policy, the statute mandates that the remaining districts must adopt and implement it within two years.

​Presently, Planning and Implementation Grants in the amount of $10,000 are being made available to Kentucky school districts adopting this policy during the 2013-14 school year. There are six steps required to receive the grant:

1. PASSAGE – A local school board must pass a districtwide policy to raise the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 with implementation beginning in the 2015-16 school year.

 2. VERIFICATION - Districts must verify the passage of the policy on or after June 26, 2013. Policy and signature pages must be uploaded into ASSIST. (A how-to guide is available here  http://education.ky.gov/school/Pages/CompAttend.aspx.)

 3. ASSURANCE - Districts must provide an electronic signature through ASSIST validating the implementation of the policy.

 4. REQUEST - Districts must submit a grant request by email to the state education commissioner’s office at  [email protected].  Body of the email must state that steps 1, 2 and 3 have been completed.

 5. REVIEW – Submissions will be reviewed by a KDE review team for certification in accordance with SB 97.

 6. NOTIFICATION - Grant recipients will be notified beginning after July 1. Notifications will be sent and the list updated weekly thereafter.

 Submit all questions concerning this grant and grant process to Tom Edgett  [email protected]at (502) 564-2116.