District of Columbia: Extent to Which Schools Receive Available Federal
Education Grants (Testimony, 08/26/98, GAO/T-HEHS-98-239).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the District of
Columbia's and the District of Columbia Public Schools' (DCPS) efforts
to apply for and receive grant awards through the federal education
grant programs available to them, focusing on: (1) what federal
education grant programs are available to the District of Columbia; (2)
status of its efforts to receive federal education grant programs; and
(3) the District of Columbia offices responsible for the application
process.

GAO noted that: (1) DCPS is eligible for 72 of the 103 fiscal year (FY)
1998 federal education grant programs available for preschool,
elementary, and secondary education; (2) in FY 1998, the District of
Columbia applied for 46 of the 72 federal programs; (3) according to
DCPS officials, DCPS did not apply for the remaining 26 programs because
it lacked the resources to pursue these grants; (4) for example,
budgetary constraints precluded its applying for grants requiring
matching funds, such as Even Start-Migrant Education, and DCPS said it
had insufficient staff to apply for some grants or to implement the
grant if received, such as Bilingual Education-Professional Development;
and (5) the grant application process can vary by grant and involves
several offices in DCPS and the District of Columbia government.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-HEHS-98-239
     TITLE:  District of Columbia: Extent to Which Schools Receive 
             Available Federal Education Grants
      DATE:  08/26/98
   SUBJECT:  Educational grants
             Grants to local governments
             Federal grants
             Municipal governments
             Preschool education
             Secondary education
             Elementary education
IDENTIFIER:  District of Columbia
             National School Lunch Program
             Head Start Program
             Even Start Migrant Program
             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, Committee on
Government Reform and Oversight, House of Representatives

For Release on Delivery
Expected at 12:00 noon
Wednesday, August 26, 1998

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - EXTENT TO
WHICH SCHOOLS RECEIVE AVAILABLE
FEDERAL EDUCATION GRANTS

Statement of Carlotta C.  Joyner, Director
Education and Employment Issues
Health, Education, and Human Services Division

GAO/T-HEHS-98-239

GAO/HEHS-98-239T


(104948)


Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV

  CFDA - Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
  DCPS - District of Columbia Public Schools
  OGMD - Office of Grants Management and Development
  OIG - Office of Inspector General

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:  EXTENT TO
WHICH SCHOOLS RECEIVE AVAILABLE
FEDERAL EDUCATION GRANTS
============================================================ Chapter 0

Mr.  Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: 

We are pleased to be here today to report our findings on the
District of Columbia and the District of Columbia Public Schools'
(DCPS) efforts to apply for and receive grant awards through the
federal education grant programs available to them. 

The federal government provides funds for hundreds of education
programs, of which 103 are available for preschool, elementary, and
secondary education.  Most of these are administered by the
Department of Education, although 12 other agencies also offer such
programs.  The biggest of these, outside Education, are the school
nutrition programs administered by the Department of Agriculture and
the Head Start program administered by the Department of Health and
Human Services. 

Concerns have been voiced in congressional hearings and the press
about how well DCPS has taken advantage of available federal
education dollars.  You have asked us to comment today on (1) what
federal education grant programs are available to the District of
Columbia, (2) the status of its efforts to receive federal education
grant programs, and (3) the District of Columbia offices responsible
for the application process. 

My statement is based primarily on our forthcoming report on this
topic, which you requested.  To obtain this information, we
interviewed officials from the District of Columbia government, DCPS,
and Education--including its Office of Inspector General (OIG)--and
we reviewed supporting documentation, including the Catalog of
Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).\1 Through computerized searches
of the CFDA, we compiled a list of federal education grant programs
available for preschool, elementary, and secondary education.  The
list of federal education grant programs was reviewed for accuracy
and completeness by representatives of the federal agencies that
administer the programs, DCPS, and the Office of Grants Management
and Development (OGMD) in the District of Columbia government.  They
indicated which of those programs are available and not available to
DCPS and identified programs available to DCPS that we added to our
list.  We identified the offices responsible for the application
process by interviewing DCPS and District of Columbia officials. 

In summary, DCPS is eligible for 72 of the 103 fiscal year 1998
federal education grant programs available for preschool, elementary,
and secondary education.  In fiscal year 1998, the District of
Columbia applied for 46 of the 72 federal programs.  According to
DCPS officials, DCPS did not apply for the remaining 26 programs
because it lacked the resources to pursue these grants.  For example,
budgetary constraints precluded its applying for grants requiring
matching funds, such as Even Start-Migrant Education, and DCPS said
it had insufficient staff to apply for some grants or to implement
the grant if received, such as Bilingual Education-Professional
Development.  The grant application process can vary by grant and
involves several offices in DCPS and the District of Columbia
government. 


--------------------
\1 The CFDA is a governmentwide compendium of federal programs,
projects, services, and activities that provide assistance or
benefits to the American public.  It contains information on
financial and nonfinancial assistance programs administered by
departments and establishments of the federal government.  Because
the funds available to the District of Columbia in fiscal year 1998
come from federal 1997 and 1998 fiscal year appropriations, we used
the 1997 and 1998 CFDA to compile the program list. 


   BACKGROUND
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1

Because of DCPS' location in the nation's capital, it has a unique
administrative environment.  Washington, D.C., is not located in a
state, so that DCPS, unlike other school districts, does not receive
the oversight and assistance often provided by states.  Therefore,
various administrative activities required by federal grants--such as
oversight and program implementation management--that are frequently
divided between state educational agencies and local educational
agencies are divided among various offices within DCPS and the
District of Columbia government.  Furthermore, recent organizational
changes in both the city and its school system--part of attempts to
improve the management of both entities--have changed the
administration of the schools.  Frequent reorganizations of both DCPS
and the District of Columbia government continue to shift
responsibilities and accountability for grant application and
management within each entity.  Finally, DCPS has one set of
responsibilities not normally assigned to a school district or state
education agency:  It has responsibility for federal nutrition
programs, including those that are not operated in the public
schools, such as the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program. 

In 1995, after years of financial mismanagement and neglect had
resulted in the District of Columbia's inability to provide effective
and efficient services in a number of areas including education, the
Congress passed legislation establishing the District of Columbia
Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority
(Authority).\2 In November 1996, the Authority issued a report
entitled "Children in Crisis:  A Report on the Failure of D.C. 
Public Schools" in which it concluded that the deplorable record of
the District of Columbia's public schools by every important
educational and management measure had left the system in a state of
crisis. 

To help address these problems, the Authority subsequently ordered
the restructuring of the DCPS, discharged the Superintendent,
redesigned the position as the Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent
(CEO), and delegated the responsibility to manage the District of
Columbia's schools to a newly installed nine-member Emergency
Transitional Education Board of Trustees.  However, on January 6,
1998, the U.S.  Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit ruled that the delegation of powers to the Trustees was
illegal.  As a result, the CEO has the responsibility to manage the
schools. 


--------------------
\2 The District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management
Assistance Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-8).  The Authority is also
known as the Control Board. 


      FEDERAL EDUCATION GRANTS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1.1

The federal government lists 103 programs in the CFDA for preschool,
elementary, and secondary education for fiscal year 1998.\3 These are
operated by 12 federal agencies:  the Departments of Education,
Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Interior,
Justice, and Labor as well as the Corporation for National and
Community Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science
Foundation, and United States Information Agency.  In fiscal year
1997, these agencies administered grant programs with funding
totaling an estimated $36.6 billion for preschool, elementary, and
secondary education programs, with four agencies accounting for over
90 percent of the funds:  Education (43 percent), Agriculture (24
percent), Health and Human Services (14 percent), and Labor (13
percent). 

Most federal education grant dollars for preschool, elementary, and
secondary programs are targeted to at-risk students, including those
who are poor or disabled or have limited English proficiency.  The
number of poor students is determined by the number of children who
apply and qualify for free and reduced-price lunches under the
National School Lunch Program.  Because over 80 percent of the
District of Columbia's students qualify for free or reduced-price
lunches, the District of Columbia is qualified for most federal
education grants. 


--------------------
\3 We have defined a program as a funding stream that has a unique
number in the CFDA.  State and local education agencies may think
about subdivisions of these funding streams as separate projects;
therefore, they may consider they have more "programs" than we have
enumerated. 


      D.C.'S TROUBLED GRANT
      HISTORY
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1.2

DCPS and the District of Columbia government have a history of
failure in optimizing access to educational grant funds.  For
example, the National Science Foundation revoked a $13.3 million
grant to DCPS in response to its fall 1996 finding that DCPS was not
capable of properly implementing the grant program.  A 1998 Education
OIG report found that DCPS does not have policies and procedures to
cover all aspects of grant management.  A self-assessment of grant
management in DCPS conducted by KPMG Peat Marwick for DCPS concluded
in a January 1998 report that program managers do not adequately
monitor their programs' financial activities. 


   DCPS IS ELIGIBLE FOR MOST
   FEDERAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR
   PRESCHOOL THROUGH GRADE 12
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2

As figure 1 shows, DCPS is eligible for 72 of 103 federal education
programs targeted to preschool, elementary, and secondary education,
according to Education and other responsible agencies.  These
programs include those for at-risk students (poor,
limited-English-proficient, migrant, and disabled), Head Start,
school reform, school nutrition, and technology.  The 31 other
programs are predominantly for selected populations of students, such
as Native Hawaiians, who do not generally reside in the District of
Columbia, or for programs that were not openly available for
competition in fiscal year 1998. 

   Figure 1:  Available Preschool,
   Elementary, and Secondary
   Education Grants, Fiscal Year
   1998

   (See figure in printed
   edition.)


   DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RECEIVED
   MORE THAN HALF OF AVAILABLE
   FEDERAL GRANTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3

The District of Columbia applied for funds through 46 of the 72
education programs and received funds through 39 programs in fiscal
year 1998.\4 Figure 2 provides more detail about the application
status for the 72 available programs.  Of the seven programs for
which DCPS applied but has not received funding, it received
rejection notices for two, and award decisions are still pending on
the remaining five.  DCPS did not apply for the 26 other available
programs because it lacked the resources to pursue these grants,
according to DCPS officials.  For example, DCPS said budgetary
constraints precluded it from applying for grants requiring matching
funds, such as Even Start-Migrant Education.  For other programs such
as Bilingual Education-Professional Development, DCPS said it had
insufficient staff to prepare and submit grant applications or to
implement the grant if received.  In addition, the director of
categorical grants cited the problem of time constraints that
required prioritization of which grants to apply for when deadlines
caused conflicts. 

   Figure 2:  Application Status
   of Available Federal Education
   Grants, Fiscal Year 1998

   (See figure in printed
   edition.)


--------------------
\4 Of these 39 grants received, the application for one was submitted
by an agency outside the District of Columbia, but DCPS received the
funds as a subgrantee. 


   RESPONSIBILITY FOR GRANT
   APPLICATIONS IS SHARED BY MORE
   THAN ONE OFFICE
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:4

DCPS may gain access to education program grants through applications
submitted by DCPS, the D.C.  Department of Human Services, the D.C. 
OGMD, or another agency for which DCPS is a subgrantee.  The CEO of
DCPS signs and submits all grant applications for which DCPS is the
primary grantee.  The grant applications are prepared for CEO
signature and review by the DCPS office responsible for administering
the grant award.  Applications for Education's TRIO programs are
prepared by the D.C.  Office of Postsecondary Education Research and
Assistance and submitted through the D.C.  Department of Human
Services.\5 Applications for two other federal education
grants--administered by Justice--are the responsibility of OGMD in
the Office of the Chief Financial Officer in the District of Columbia
government.\6 DCPS may also gain access to federal education grants
by being a subgrantee or by being part of a consortium.\7

Because of ongoing reorganization in DCPS, the responsibilities for
the grant application process changed during this review and will
continue to change, according to DCPS officials.  For example, before
July 23, 1998, nutrition grant applications went directly from the
Office of Food and Nutrition Programs to Agriculture; special
education programs and some adult education programs and vocational
education programs went directly to the CEO from the respective
program offices; all other grant applications went through the Office
of Categorical Programs.\8 During our review, the state director of
food and nutrition programs was replaced and the new acting director
of food and nutrition programs told us that in the future nutrition
grants would be going through her office to the CEO.  See figure 3. 

   Figure 3:  Responsibilities for
   Applying for Federal Education
   Grants as of July 31, 1998

   (See figure in printed
   edition.)

\a This office is within the office of the Chief Financial Officer
(CFO) but would submit any grant applications directly to Justice
without needing the signature of the CFO. 


--------------------
\5 The TRIO programs fund activities to encourage and motivate youth
with the potential for postsecondary education to continue in and
graduate from secondary school and to successfully enter and graduate
from college

\6 This office has also assumed responsibility for identifying all
federal grant opportunities for the District of Columbia by
monitoring the CFDA and Federal Register notices, according to the
Director.  The office forwards appropriate information to the various
DCPS officials, tracks due dates for applications, and sends
reminders to the DCPS offices with responsibility for the
application.  This office also can identify or facilitate
opportunities for DCPS to pursue funds as part of a consortium.  This
office has initiated a database to track grant applications, awards,
and rejections. 

\7 DCPS receives funds as a subgrantee to the Los Angeles Unified
School District for the STAR schools program (CFDA 84.203) and as a
subgrantee to the District of Columbia's Department of Employment
Services for the Job Training Partnership Act (CFDA 17.250). 

\8 The director of the Office of Food and Nutrition Programs was the
designated "state director" of food and nutrition programs;
Agriculture regulations require that funding applications be signed
by the state director. 


-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:4.1

Mr.  Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement.  I would be
pleased to respond to any questions you or members of the
Subcommittee may have. 


*** End of document. ***