49-6-701 - Grants and technical assistance LEAP grant fund. - Tennessee Statutes

49-6-701. Grants and technical assistance LEAP grant fund.

(a)  The department of education shall establish, administer and monitor a system of competitive grants and technical assistance for eligible organizations providing after school educational programs consistent with Tenn. Const. art. XI, § 5. The grants and technical assistance shall supplement, not supplant, non-lottery educational resources for after school educational programs and purposes.

(b)  There is created within the state treasury a fund to be administered by the department of education and to be known as the lottery for education after school programs grant fund, referred to as the LEAP grant fund in this section.

(c)  In any fiscal year in which the financial assistance program for attendance at postsecondary educational institutions located within this state is funded pursuant to chapter 4, part 9 of this title, and funds are available in the after school account established in § 4-51-111(f), the governor shall recommend and the general assembly may appropriate moneys in the after school account to the department of education for deposit in the LEAP grant fund.

(d)  (1)  Moneys in the LEAP grant fund shall be available to the department of education to make grants and fund technical assistance for after school programs. An after school program grant shall be awarded for a period of three (3) years with moneys for such grant earmarked in the LEAP grant fund and disbursed annually during the life of the grant according to the terms of the grant.

     (2)  The department of education shall establish a method whereby it converts grant funding for after school programs from annual grants to grants awarded for three-year periods. The method may include a phase-in of the award of three-year grants so that not all grants expire at the same time or any other process that the department finds to be most efficacious in the administration of the grant program. Grants shall only be awarded to those programs that comply with § 49-6-702 or § 49-6-705 and meet adequate performance levels as determined by the department of education.

(e)  The award of grants in any fiscal year is subject to the availability of funds in the LEAP grant fund for the grants. Amounts remaining in the LEAP grant fund at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund or to the after school account, but shall be carried forward into the subsequent fiscal year and remain available for use by the department for after school programs and technical assistance for such programs. Moneys in the fund shall be invested by the state treasurer pursuant to title 9, chapter 4, part 6 for the sole benefit of the fund. All earnings attributable to such investments shall be credited to the fund.

[Acts 2004, ch. 953, § 1; 2008, ch. 1175, § 1.]