1 of 25

NMPED Unified Application

2 of 25

Overview & Introductions

OBJECTIVES

AGENDA

  • Review the background, context, and benefits of the Unified Application Pilot.
  • Provide an overview of the application sections and technical enhancements that are currently in development for the Unified Application.
  • Discuss the application process and NMPED support structures.
  • Identify district/charter staff to be engaged and clarify pilot communication cadences for participating districts.
  1. Introductions
  2. Background & Context on the Unified Pilot
  3. The Unified Application Modules
  4. The Unified Application Technical Enhancements
  5. District/Charter Staff Engagement and Pilot Communications Cadences

​

3 of 25

Introductions

4 of 25

Introduction of District/Charter Staff

This call is comprised of the district/charter staff members who will make up the Unified Application pilot participant cohort.

Share the following information in the chat:

  1. Your name;
  2. The name of your district or charter school; and
  3. What excites you about participating in the pilot launch of the Unified Application.

​

5 of 25

Background and Context

6 of 25

The Unified Application

The Unified Application will provide districts/charters a single application for federal plans and streamlined compliance processes, allowing districts/charters to focus on strategically using funds to support student learning.

The Unified Application will:

  • Provide a single platform for districts/charters to complete applications for federal funds;
  • Align those applications on a single timeline;
  • Consolidate common requirements across federal programs (e.g. equitable services and needs assessments); and
  • Automate data entry and calculations to ensure accuracy and compliance with federal requirements.

By reducing administrative burden with a single application, districts/charters will have more time to dedicate to planning and implementation.

7 of 25

Unified Application Overview

District Role

Engagement with Unified Application

Superintendents/School Leaders

Set an overall vision and coordinate work across chief academic officers, federal programs managers, and chief financial officers to complete the Unified Application and align district/charter spending to key priorities.

Federal Programs Directors

Complete key components of the Unified Application alongside superintendents, chief academic officers, and finance teams to communicate the plan and budget.

Chief Academic Officers

Communicate how district/charter decisions regarding key priorities in the Unified Application – Academic Focus for All, Priority Student Groups, and Workforce Talent – will be implemented across the district/charter.

Chief Financial Officers

Support the spending and reporting of federal funds across programs.

A strategic focus on federal grants will allow for coordination across district/charter functions, enhancing collaboration across teams to best meet student needs.

8 of 25

Pilot Participation Expectations

To best ensure the success of a pilot launch – and subsequent statewide rollout – the cohort of districts and charters participating should expect to proactively engage.

During the pilot launch participating districts and charters should expect to:

  • Provide detailed feedback on the features, usability, and process shifts that accompany the Unified Application;
  • Ask questions early and often and clarify areas of confusion;
  • Identify supports or areas of improvement that are needed throughout the process; and
  • Remain flexible as adjustments are made during the pilot launch based on feedback or issues that arise.

​

​

9 of 25

Module Overview

10 of 25

Unified Application Module Structure

The Unified Application will include a set of three modules: priorities, compliance, and budget.

  1. The plan priorities module will collect information about district/charter choices related to strategic priorities (e.g. High Quality Instructional Materials adoption).
  2. The compliance module will collect key information required for federal grants administration (e.g. transfers between funds, private school consultation, etc.).
  3. The budget module will collect expenditure-based budgets for each federal funding source, including equitable share for private schools.

11 of 25

Priorities Module

The priorities module will provide districts a way to clarify key initiatives to support students in a process that is simple as possible (e.g., choosing from dropdowns) rather than completing open-ended questions.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

12 of 25

Compliance

The compliance module will collect information about federal grants administration requirements, and wherever possible, will consolidate similar requirements (e.g. private school consultation).

→

→

→

Current Process

Districts complete independent applications for each federal grant, even when funding sources have similar priorities and requirements (e.g. private schools).

Districts that make transfers between federal funds (e.g., from Title II or Title IV to other federal funds) communicate these individually to NMPED.

Applications collect information about plans separately from budgets, requiring that districts clarify how expenditures are connected with the approved application in subsequent processes.

The Unified Application Process

Districts will complete similar requirements in a single place for all federal funds and include specific responses to meet requirements for Title I, Title IV, and IDEA.

The Unified Application will provide a centralized process for transferring funds between federal grants.

The Unified Application collects information about planned expenditures to supplement information collected in the compliance module.

13 of 25

Expenditure-Based Budget

The budget module for the Unified Application will collect expenditure-level information about planned spending for included federal funds.

→

→

​

Current Process

Districts currently submit budgets for federal funds separately from the required plans & applications for federal funds.

Districts must manually verify that planned spending meets federal requirements (e.g. reservations in Title I or activity requirements for Title IV).

The Unified Application Process

Districts will submit a detailed budget that communicates planned expenses by funding sources as part of application approval.

The Unified Application will leverage grants management codes to ensure that federal requirements are met.

14 of 25

Unified Application Enhancements

15 of 25

Current Landscape in New Mexico

The current planning and budgeting process in New Mexico is characterized by multiple applications, redundant manual data entry, and a compressed timeline that make it hard for districts to leverage resources strategically.

CURRENT STATE

  • Multiple applications: district must complete independent applications for each federal grant, even when objectives and priorities of these gants overlap (e.g. providing supports to struggling readers);
  • Redundant manual data entry: districts manually enter duplicate data in each Sharepoint application (e.g. private school lists for equitable share); and
  • Compressed timeline: districts feel rushed to submit timely applications and enter fiscal year budgets in time for the new state fiscal year.

16 of 25

Consolidated Processes

The Unified Application consolidates processes (e.g., transferability, private school consultation, and assurances) across multiple grants to ensure that the application process is as streamlined as possible.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Example:

Private School Allocations

​

The Unified Application will collect information for private school allocations in a single place across included federal funds.

17 of 25

Limited Manual Entry

The Unified Application will incorporate data held by NMPED prior to launch, reducing the frequency with which districts/charters are asked to re-supply data to the state.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Example:

Title I Rank and Serve

​

The Unified Application will include information already collected by NMPED (e.g. direct certification counts) to simplify processes such as Title I Rank and Serve.

18 of 25

Unified Application Timeline

18

18

Spring 2025 (March - June)

Fall 2024 (Nov - Dec)

Winter 2024-2025 (Jan - Feb)

Summer 2025 Onwards

  • Form Planning Team
  • Comprehensive Needs Assessment (prior to application);
  • Stakeholder/Tribal consultation (prior to application)
  • Confirm HQIM & HQPL vendor choices; and
  • Private school consultation
  • March: Complete Unified Application (priorities, compliance, and budget) sections.
  • End of March/Early April: Submit Unified Application.
  • May: PED review and approval.
  • RfR submissions (ongoing)
  • Application amendments (beginning Summer 2025)
  • Carryover (Fall 2025)

The Unified Application will follow an earlier timeline, providing districts with more time to plan and budget for the upcoming year. The pre-application activities (e.g. needs assessments) will begin in Winter 24-25.

19 of 25

Support from NMPED

20 of 25

Key Communication Streams

NMPED will establish multiple communication channels ahead of the March 3, 2025 launch to ensure district chief academic, finance, and federal programs personnel are prepared for the new application.

Stream

Frequency

Audience

Purpose

Implementation Call

Monthly: Nov-Dec

All

Provide a high-level overview of timeline: both progress to date and upcoming milestones.

Weekly Office Hours

Weekly: Jan - March

All Invited;

Mandatory Participants (based on topic)

Provide an in-depth walkthrough of the Unified Application process for relevant teams (e.g. comprehensive needs assessment, rank and serve, equitable services, Title IV) and share guidance for the Unified Application.

Helpdesk

Ongoing

All

Provide a single place to send all questions across the Unified Application – email Unified.App@state.nm.us.

Testing

On-Going As Needed

Role-Specific, As Needed

The Unified Application Development team will engage with identified districts based on business needs to test parts of the application in development to ensure a quality standard is met.

21 of 25

Planned Topics for Weekly Federal Programs Team Calls (1/2)

Beginning in January, NMPED will begin a weekly federal programs office hours to provide clarity to Federal Programs Directors at participating districts on key topics related to the Unified Application.

Week of

Phase

Audience

*denotes mandatory

Description

Tentative & Subject to Change

January 6

Pre-Application

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Overview of Unified Application Structure (including budget) and pre-application modules (consolidated assurances, district contacts, etc.)

January 13

Pre-Application

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Overview of Pre-Application Activities (Assurances, Needs Assessment, NOVA data validation, etc.).

January 20

Pre-Application

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Comprehensive Needs Assessments

Pre-Application

Chief Academic Officers*

All LEA Roles

Plan module overview: HQIM, HQPL, Priority Student Groups

January 27

Pre-Application

Private School Consultation Captains (Geographical LEAs only)*

All LEA Roles

Private School Consultation

February 3

Pre-Application

Federal Program Directors*

All LEA Roles

Launch application setup phase (data verification, etc.). Clarify what LEAs will do across the next 6-8 weeks to submission.

February 10

Pre-Application

Geographical LEA Title I Directors*

All LEA Roles

Title I Rank & Serve: next steps include pulling NOVA report and confirm schools and poverty count are right

February 17

Pre-Application

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Budget Module & Guidance

February 24

Pre-Application

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

IDEA Compliance & Proportionate Share

March 3

UA Opens

22 of 25

Planned Topics for Weekly Federal Programs Team Calls (2/2)

Beginning in January, NMPED will begin a weekly federal programs office hours to provide clarity to Federal Programs Directors at participating districts on key topics related to the Unified Application.

Week of

Phase

Audience

*denotes mandatory

Description

Tentative & Subject to Change

March 3

Application Completion

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Launching and Transferability/AFUA

March 10

Application Completion

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Title IV & Title III

March 17

Application Completion

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Overview of review process & amendments.

March 24

Application Completion

Chief Financial Officers/Business Managers*

All LEA Roles

Overview of finance processes that will stay the same and any differences

March 31

Application Completion

Federal Programs Directors*

All LEA Roles

Submitting the Application

End of March/Early April

UA Submissions Due

23 of 25

Exit Survey: Aligning Training with District/Charter Personnel

To ensure the right district/charter personnel are included for each training call for the Unified Application, the exit survey includes questions about who is currently completing Sharepoint applications for included grant funds.

The exit survey asks about:

  1. Chief Academic Officer – to understand who should be included when training focuses on the priorities module (and district/charter choices related to three priorities of: academics for all, priority student groups, and workforce);
  2. Federal Programs Officers – to understand who should be included when training focuses on the mechanics of the application relevant to a specific program (e.g. Title I Rank & Serve); and
  3. Chief Financial Officers – to understand who should be included when training focuses on overlap with business processes.

24 of 25

Next Steps

Please send questions & comments (or updates regarding changes that could impact pilot participation) to:

​

Unified.App@state.nm.us

Please complete the exit survey:

​

​

​

​

​

​

Also available at https://tinyurl.com/NMPEDnov19

​

​

​

25 of 25

Questions/Feedback?