The superintendent shall award grants to a local educational agency or consortium to pay the costs of planning and operating, on behalf of one or more qualifying schools within the local educational agency or consortium, programs that provide support services to pupils and their families at or near the school, as follows: (a) Grants shall be awarded by the superintendent based upon the recommendations of the council and pursuant to this section. (b) Two types of grants may be awarded to applicant local educational agencies or consortia, depending upon the level of readiness of that applicant to implement a program pursuant to this chapter. The superintendent shall issue requests for applications for awarding the grants, which shall specify maximum dollar amounts for which each type of grant may be awarded. The requests for applications also shall specify other criteria, as required by this article. The superintendent shall award those grants as follows: (1) Planning grants may be awarded to local educational agencies or consortia that have demonstrated a need to implement a program, but that are not ready to begin the operation of the program, or that are in need of additional planning to expand existing support services programs. Planning grants shall be no more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) and shall be awarded for a period not to exceed two years. Upon completion of the planning phase, the local educational agency or consortium shall be eligible to apply for and may receive an operational grant. (2) Operational grants may be awarded to local educational agencies or consortia that have demonstrated readiness to begin operation of a program or to expand existing support services programs. Operational grants shall supplement, not supplant, existing services and funds, and shall be awarded for a period not to exceed five years. (A) Operational grants shall be awarded for no more than three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000). No more than 50 percent of each grant shall be available for expenditure on direct services, as long as the grant application contains a three-year plan to significantly reduce or to eliminate agency reliance on funding provided under this article for direct services. Direct services do not include salaries for staff who are developing or implementing the program. (B) Recipients of operational grants may also receive one-time startup grants, which may be used, among other things, for purchasing equipment, hiring staff, designing a program evaluation, or hiring a consultant. Startup grants shall be awarded for not more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000). (3) If a local educational agency or consortium submits an application for an operational grant on behalf of a school that does not meet the criteria specified in subdivision (g), (h), (i), or (j), the superintendent may offer the applicant a planning grant, provided that the local educational agency or consortium has not received previously a planning grant on behalf of that school. (c) All grants awarded under this article shall be matched by the participating local educational agency or consortium and its cooperating agencies with one dollar ($1) for each four dollars ($4) awarded. The match shall be contributed in cash or as services or resources of comparable value. It is the intent of the Legislature that participants seek and utilize private funds or resources for this purpose. The superintendent may waive the match requirement upon verifying that the local educational agency or consortium made a substantial effort to secure a match but was unable to secure the required match. (d) The superintendent shall award grants pursuant to this article to local educational agencies or consortia in northern, central, and southern California, in urban, suburban, and rural areas. To the extent possible, the grants shall be awarded for programs representative of the ethnic and linguistic diversity of schoolage pupils and their families. Further,
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