OAR 581-017-0444: Awarding and Using Competitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program Education Grants

(1) The Oregon Department of Education shall allocate funds for competitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program education grants. (2) Competitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program education grants will be awarded to those eligible entities whose grant proposals are judged by the department as best addressing the applicable evaluation criteria. (3) The department will notify the eligible entities selected for a proposed competitive education grant award by either mail or email. Within two weeks of receiving notice, the entity must notify the department whether it accepts the award. (4) The department will award competitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program education grants for the biennium beginning on July 1, of the first year of the biennium, and ending on June 30, on the second year of the biennium. If funding is available, additional competitive grants will be awarded in subsequent biennia. (5) The amount of any competitive Oregon Farm-to-School education grants awarded by the department on or after July 1, on the first year of the biennium, for the biennium beginning on July 1, will be at least $2,000.00 and no more than $100,000.00. (6)The recipient of a competitive Oregon Farm to School Program education grant that was awarded by the department on or after July 1, on the first year of the biennium, for the biennium beginning on July 1, may reserve up to twenty-five percent of the total amount awarded for all costs incurred through direct administration of the food-based, agriculture-based, or garden-based educational activities offered by the grant recipient, including administrative labor, supplies and indirect costs. (7) The department may reallocate competitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program education grant funds to other eligible entities if education grant funds either remain after awards are made or become unobligated, or if a grant recipient is not making adequate progress towards spending all of its grant award during the biennium in which the award was made. (8) Grant funds awarded for use in one biennium may not be carried over to the following biennium, and will revert to the department at the end of the biennium, unless otherwise determined by the department. (9) Recipients of a competitive Oregon Farm-to-School Program education grant must deposit the grant funds they receive in an account that is separate from their nonprofit food service account, or assign those funds a separate account or index number. Grant funds may only be used for the purpose of providing the food-based, agriculture-based, or garden-based educational activities it proposed to offer for the benefit of children enrolled in a public school or public charter school within a school district, or a center-based program for children. (10) The department may reallocate competitive education grant funds to other eligible entities if competitive education grant funds either remain after awards are made or become unobligated, or if a grant recipient does not spend all of its grant award during the biennium in which the award was made. (11) The department, at its sole discretion, may disburse up to twenty-five percent of a grant recipient’s award in advance if the recipient can first demonstrate a compelling need.