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For Immediate Release
April 26, 2004
Schiller: New electronic grant system is a “win-win
for school districts”
(SPRINGFIELD) – Schools statewide will soon be spending
less time filling out paperwork and sending grant applications
off in the mail.
State Superintendent of Schools Robert Schiller Monday formally
unveiled the E-Grant Management System (eGMS) in Springfield
before more than 150 school administrators.
The State Board of Education began training sessions last
week to assist school administrators statewide to utilize
the new E-Grant Management System (eGMS). ISBE worked with
14 pilot districts last summer when it first began to develop
the program.
First and foremost the new program will reduce paperwork
and expedite the approval and release of funds. Currently,
more than 1,200 people have signed up for the training sessions,
which required ISBE to add more training sessions to accommodate
the interest in the new electronic application.
“Prepare to save on paper costs,” State Superintendent
Robert Schiller said. “The E-Grant Management System
is for education what e-file was for the Internal Revenue
Service: it’s easier, it’s faster and best of all
it’s paperless.”
Currently, the grant application process can be filled with
redundancies, applications may be repeatedly revised and corrected
in a paper form, which then results in the constant need to
check and recheck data.
The new eGMS will:
- Improve communication between grant administrators and
districts
- Reduce paperwork
- Increase the quality of data
- Allow schools to track grant status
- Electronic notification to recipients upon grant approval
- Expedite the release of funds
“We are supposed to support districts, and through this
new program we have found a win-win for both districts and
ISBE,” said Schiller. “This process makes all of
our lives easier.”
ISBE plans to concentrate the initial implementation of the
program this spring on the Fiscal Year 2005 No Child Left
Behind Consolidated Application. Districts will submit the
FY05 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) consolidated application
for the following grants:
- Title I, Part A, Improving the Academic Achievement of
the Disadvantaged
- Title II, Part A, Teacher Quality
- Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology
- Title IV, Part A, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities
- Title V, Part A, Innovative Programs
The eGMS program will be interfaced with the State Board’s
Web Application Security System (IWAS) and the existing Financial
Reimbursement Information System (FRIS). It is the full integration
of these systems that will result in a substantial reduction
of ISBE staff preparing, reviewing and processing grants.
Instead staff can focus on expedient grant approvals.
“This system eliminates the paper shuffle,” Schiller
said. “Instead of moving a piece of paper from person-to-person,
each one of the people involved in the grant application can
call it up on the computer, approve or amend it, electronically
file it with ISBE, and track the status of the grant.”
ISBE will eventually phase in more than 60 grant programs
online over the next few years. The program cost was $2.5
million, and will be used by all of Illinois’ 888 school
districts, as well as Regional Safe Schools, charter schools,
the Department of Human Services, Regional Offices of Education
and other grant recipients.
Information on the additional training sessions can be found
at: http://www.isbe.net/egms/default.htm
A list of attendees can be found at: http://www.isbe.net/news/2004/attendance_e-GMS.pdf
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