SECTION 210:40-67-3. Evaluation procedure

(a)   The State Superintendent will select members of the grant review and evaluation committee from a list submitted by the grant administrator. The committee will consist of three superintendents or dependent school principals, three principals, and three teachers. The review and evaluation committee members will be representative of the geographic dispersion of Oklahoma public school districts as well as school districts under 800 in average daily attendance.

(b)   Review and evaluation committee members will be reimbursed for travel and per diem for the task of serving as an evaluator/reviewer for the applications submitted to the Small School Cooperative Grant Program.

(c)   No committee member will serve for more than two consecutive years.

(d)   The grant administrator will insure that during the evaluation process a committee member will not be asked to review, evaluate or score an application from his or her district.

(e)   The application shall be received by the grant program administrator on or before the grant application submission deadline.

(f)   The review and evaluation committee will meet to review, evaluate and score the application forms within two weeks after the application submission deadline.

(g)   Each application will be reviewed, evaluated and scored by three committee members during separate readings.

(h)   Grant applications will be scored in the following areas:

(1)   Long-range goal and objectives as they address the need of the cooperative. (20 points) [See (j) (1)]

(2)   Cooperative program and curriculum design. (20 points) [(See (j) (2)]

(3)   Evaluation design of both program and student progress. (20 points) [See (j) (3)]

(4)   Personnel appropriate for the program. (10 points) [(See (j) (4)]

(5)   Materials and equipment. (10 points) [(See (j) (5)]

(6)   Budget. (20 points) [(See (i) (6) and (i) (7)]

(i)   Each of the applications will be scored with a possible 100 points.

(j)   The review and evaluation committee members will review, evaluate and score each application based on the following criteria:

(1)   The appropriateness of the cooperative in terms of meeting the long-term goal and learning objectives of the school districts.

(2)   The feasibility of the cooperative program design based on information from all members of the cooperative.

(3)   The adequacy of the evaluation design for both program and student progress.

(4)   The appropriateness of the instruction-related personnel requirements for the cooperative.

(5)   The appropriateness of the materials and equipment as they relate directly to the course offerings.

(6)   The appropriateness of the projected costs based on the review of the budget justification statement.

(7)   The accuracy of the cost estimate for the materials and equipment including hardware, software, satellite dishes, etc.

(k)   The scoring of the grant applications will be based on the subjective opinions of the members of the review and evaluation committee as they consider each grant application in terms of the above stated criteria and grant guidelines.

(l)   The grant administrator will add the score of each evaluator and average the three totals to arrive at a single score for each grant application.

(m)   The applications will be recommended for funding in descending order according to the average score.

(n)   If, at the conclusion of the above stated process, there is remaining an amount of funds that will not fully fund a grant, the next eligible district will be contacted to determine if said district would be willing to accept partial funding.

(o)   Subsequent to the review and evaluation process, the grant administrator will prepare a final list of recommended cooperatives for submission to the State Superintendent.

(p)   After the completion of the fiscal year in which grant funds are awarded, each district receiving said funds will be audited by the Oklahoma State Department of Education auditors. Grant funds spent for purposes or items other than those delineated by the Oklahoma State Board of Education and determined by the audit to be so, will be withheld in like amount in state aid funds to said district(s).