U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 9409. Grant administration

(a) Federal administrative costs

The Secretary may use not more than 3 percent of the amount appropriated under section 9404 of this title for a fiscal year to pay for the administrative costs of carrying out this chapter, including the monitoring and evaluation of State and local efforts.

(b) State administrative costs

A State that receives a grant under this chapter may use—

(1) not more than 2 percent of the funds made available through the grant to carry out activities designed to coordinate early learning programs on the State level, including programs funded or operated by the State educational agency, health, children and family, and human service agencies, and any State-level collaboration or coordination council involving early learning and education, such as the entities funded under section 9835 (a)(2)(B)(vi) of title 42;

(2) not more than 2 percent of the funds made available through the grant for the administrative costs of carrying out the grant program and the costs of reporting State and local efforts to the Secretary; and

(3) not more than 3 percent of the funds made available through the grant for training, technical assistance, and wage incentives provided by the State to Local Councils.

(1) In general

To be eligible to receive an allotment under this chapter, the Governor of a State shall appoint, after consultation with the leadership of the State legislature, a Lead State Agency to carry out the functions described in paragraph (2).

(2) Lead State Agency

(A) Allocation of funds

The Lead State Agency described in paragraph (1) shall allocate funds to Local Councils as described in section 9411 of this title.

(B) Functions of agency

In addition to allocating funds pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Lead State Agency shall—

(i) advise and assist Local Councils in the performance of their duties under this chapter;

(ii) develop and submit the State application;

(iii) evaluate and approve applications submitted by Local Councils under section 9412 of this title;

(iv) ensure collaboration with respect to assistance provided under this chapter between the State agency responsible for education and the State agency responsible for children and family services;

(v) prepare and submit to the Secretary, an annual report on the activities carried out in the State under this chapter, which shall include a statement describing how all funds received under this chapter are expended and documentation of the effects that resources under this chapter have had on—

(I) parental capacity to improve learning readiness in their young children;

(II) early childhood literacy;

(III) linkages among early learning programs;

(IV) linkages between early learning programs and health care services for young children;

(V) access to early learning activities for young children with special needs;

(VI) access to existing early learning programs through expansion of the days or times that children are served;

(VII) access to existing early learning programs through expansion of the number of young children served;

(VIII) access to and affordability of existing early learning programs for low-income families;

(IX) the quality of early learning programs resulting from professional development, and recruitment and retention incentives for caregivers; and

(X) removal of ancillary barriers to early learning, including transportation difficulties and absence of programs during nontraditional work times; and

(vi) ensure that training and research is made available to Local Councils and that such training and research reflects the latest available brain development and early childhood development research related to early learning.

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