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Department of Education-Rural, Low-Income School Program

Agency/Department
Federal Agency/Bureau
Department of Education
Program Name
Rural, Low-Income School Program
Authorizing Legislation

Part B of Title V of the ESEA

Program Overview

The purpose of the Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) grant program is to provide poor, rural districts with financial assistance to address the unique needs of rural school districts that frequently lack the personnel and resources needed to compete effectively for Federal competitive grants and receive formula grant allocations in amounts too small to be effective in meeting their intended purposes. The grant is non-competitive, and eligibility is determined by statute. Awards are issued annually to state educational agencies (SEAs), which make sub-grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) that meet the applicable requirements. Awards are made to all SEAs with eligible LEAs that apply and meet the applicable requirements of the act (see legislative citation above).

CFDA

84.358B

Type of Funding

Formula

Link to application site, NOFO, FOA, or Grants.gov (if different from program website above)

Not Applicable

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) or Federal Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Type

Not Applicable

Important Dates (if applicable)

Not Applicable

FY2023 Appropriations Amount

Total Amount:$107,500,000


Amount Available Towards Broadband (if specified): Not Specified

Matching Requirement

No 

Complementary Federal Funding Option

Not Applicable 

Broadband-related Program Purpose/Eligible Expenditures
If "Other", Program Purpose(s)

Research and/or Evaluation

Speed/Technical Requirement for Broadband Infrastructure

Not Applicable 

Criteria for Eligible Recipients

An LEA is eligible to participate in the RLIS program if it meets the statutory criteria of being both low-income and rural. 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. 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.

Grant Beneficiaries (if different from eligible recipients)

Not Applicable 

Reporting Requirements

Not Applicable 

Publicly-available programmatic data

RLIS Eligibility - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, includes current and previous year REAP Master Eligibility Spreadsheets, which includes eligiblity and award information for States and individual LEAs.

Contact Information

reap@ed.gov; 202-401-0039

Additional Information

This is one of a number of Department programs that provides funds that could be used to support broadband access. School districts may use Rural and Low-Income School funds to pay for activities that are allowable under Title I, Part A, Title II, Part A, Title III, and Title IV, Part A, as well as parental involvement activities. The allowability of costs is always situation and program specific. For that reason, if you decide to use funds under one of these programs for costs related to device or mobile hotspot access, you must be sure that the use of the funds is, under the specific circumstances of the expenditure and the program authority selected, reasonable and necessary for the purposes of that program, and does not violate other program requirements, such as the “supplement not supplant” requirement. We also note that, while funds under one of these programs can be used on broadband access, the programs’ purpose is not primarily focused on that issue.


The use of Rural and Low-Income School Program funds for broadband infrastructure must be consistent with the definition of “minor remodeling” in 34 CFR Part 77. That definition of minor remodeling means “minor alterations in a previously completed building. The term also includes the extension of utility lines, such as water and electricity, from points beyond the confines of the space in which the minor remodeling is undertaken but within the confines of the previously 20 completed building. The term does not include building construction, structural alterations to buildings, building maintenance, or repairs.”


Expenditures for construction are prohibited under this program.

For more information, see the REAP Informational Document, which can be downloaded on the REAP website: REAP Resources - Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Updated

April 2023

Funding Guide