Section 256.210  Cooperative Agreements, Submission, and Criteria for Approval

a)         Current cooperative agreements entered into by local educational agencies for the purpose of providing CTE programs, services, and activities or for the purpose of establishing and operating a regional education center shall be submitted to the State Board electronically any time the agreement is updated and, prior to application for funding, for approval under this Section.

1)         If the agreement is for the purpose of creating or expanding secondary area CTE facilities, the agreement shall be submitted in accordance with requirements for submitting those agreements under this Section.

2)         To be considered for continued approval as a regional consortium that is an eligible applicant, cooperative agreements existing prior to 2021 must be updated in accordance with this Subpart and submitted to the State Board, prior to the end of State fiscal year 2023, to be considered for continued approval.

b)         Except as otherwise provided in this Part, the State Board requires the following components for approvable cooperative agreements:

1)         comprehensive list of members of the Board of Control, including secondary representatives and at least one elementary representative from diverse backgrounds;

2)         clearly articulated roles and responsibilities of all entities and individuals involved in the cooperative agreement to include, at a minimum:

A)        fulfillment of grant responsibilities;

B)        implementation and oversight of CTE programming; and

C)        assessment and evaluation of the system;

3)         graphic of organizational structure and narrative detailed explanation of administrative structure for the system;

4)         comprehensive plan of action for completion of the applicable needs assessments necessary to meet the requirements of this Part and Perkins V;

5)         comprehensive accounting for fiscal responsibilities;

6)         clearly articulated and evidence-based narrative of procedures to ensure equitable access for all students. These procedures shall include both recruitment and retention initiatives and an intervention plan for identified disparities and gaps;

7)         clearly articulated description and process for how the CTE funds will be distributed;

8)         completed assurances that other LEAs within the region were afforded opportunity to participate in the cooperative agreement.

c)         A CTE program provided under this Section through a cooperative agreement entered into between LEAs must be administered by a designated entity under the terms of the joint agreement.

d)         Continued approval of the cooperative agreement will be contingent upon a scheduled review, at a minimum of once every three years, of the following components:

1)         adherence to the most recent State Board-approved cooperative agreement;

2)         completion of the program quality review process as stipulated in Section 256.160(c)(1); and

3)         satisfactory progress toward improvement in the case of implementation of a program improvement plan.

e)         Amendments to cooperative agreements must be submitted for approval, be reviewed annually, and be submitted to the State Board. Minutes of local administrative board meetings at which the cooperative agreement was approved should be kept as documentation of local administrative board approval.