School Construction Assistance Program
News & Announcements
SCAP FY25.2 Application Announcement
A new grant application for awarding the additional appropriated funds designated as SCAP FY25.2 has been implemented using the competitive grant criteria listed in the Board of Education’ amended Guidelines for the 2024-2026 Biennium. Information on the FY25.2 phase of the SCAP grant was communicated to school divisions in the Superintendent’s Newsletter #2025-36, Virginia Education Update October 27, 2025. The application window will open October 24, 2025, and close November 24, 2025.
Background
The School Construction Assistance Program was created at the 2022 Special Session I of the General Assembly in the 2022 Appropriation Act. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has already awarded grants in the amount of $530,000,000 to qualifying school projects. Additional funding allocations of $170.0 million was approved in the 2025 Appropriations Act to support the School Construction Fund for the Board of Education to award grants on a competitive basis to local school boards that demonstrate poor building conditions, commitment, and need for such local school boards to fund the construction, expansion, flexible space buildouts, or modernization of public school buildings, including CTE programs, submitted by school divisions and regional CTE program governing boards Any unobligated appropriation balance for this program on June 30, 2026, must be reappropriated for expenditure in fiscal year 2026 for the same purpose.
Guidelines for Implementing the School Construction Assistance Program in 2024-2026 Biennium (Amended for SCAP25.2)
The Board of Education is required to develop guidelines for the administration of the program to include certain minimum requirements as established in these guidelines. The School Construction Grant Assistance Program (SCAP) funding is awarded based on competitive criteria through a school division or regional program governing board application process. These guidelines establish the competitive criteria and criteria point values used in evaluating school division applications for awarding grant funding to eligible public school and regional CTE projects. The Guidelines detail the background and award criteria for the SCAP FY25.2 grant.
Application Requirements and Criteria
Under this program, public school construction, additions, innovative flexible space buildouts, or major modernization/renovation projects, including school-based and regional CTE Programs, meeting the following three criteria qualify to be submitted for funding through an online application: (i) those projects that are either in the local planning phase or already planned as documented in a currently-approved local Capital Improvement Plan (CIP); (ii) those projects that lack sufficient funding or financing to cover the full cost projected for the project; and (iii) those projects for which construction has not yet started. School divisions, or regional CTE center governing boards programs may also submit applications for grant funding for public school or CTE centers construction, additions, or major modernization/renovation projects in which construction began on or after July 1, 2025; such project applications are subject to all other competitive criteria, conditions, and requirements contained in these guidelines.
Grants for awarded public school projects, school-based, or regional CTE center projects will be based on 10, 20, or 30 percent of approved project costs (project costs to be a minimum of $500,000 and not greater than $100,000,000 for purpose of grant funding.) Projects for similar capital work at multiple schools (HVAC, window or door replacement, etc.) in a division are eligible for this round of SCAP applications. The project cost for this type of project is to be a minimum of $1.0 million and not greater than $100.0 million. The percentage is to be determined by the school division’s local composite index and the fiscal stress category as designated by the Virginia Commission on Local Government in its most recent “Report on Comparative Revenue Capacity, Revenue Effort, and Fiscal Stress of Virginia’s Counties and Cities” for the locality that contains the school division.
Application Process and Deadline
To apply for these competitive grant funds, grant applications must be submitted online to VDOE no later than November 24, 2025. The online grant application and instructions can be accessed through VDOE’s Single Sign-On Web Systems (SSWS) portal using the School Construction Assistance Program (“SCAP”) application.
All responses submitted by school divisions in the online application are subject to further verification and approval by VDOE. Applications not submitted by the November 24, 2025, deadline may be disqualified from funding consideration.
Please note that all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements for school construction projects must be met for an application to be considered for grant funding. After the submitted applications are reviewed and scored against the criteria in the guidelines, recommendations for funding awards will be made to the Board in an action item presented at a monthly business meeting of the Board. All funding awards are subject to availability of funding and at the discretion of the Board.
SCAP FY25 Award Announcement
The Virginia Department of Education (“VDOE”) conducted an open application process from March 13 through April 18 for school divisions to apply for grants from the School Construction Assistance Program, with 28 grant applications submitted from 28 school divisions. Following the close of the open application period, VDOE staff reviewed the submitted grant applications and scored all applications against the 13 competitive criteria in the guidelines.
After the submitted grant applications were reviewed and scored against the criteria in the guidelines, the VDOE recommended funding awards to the Board. The Board is required by the appropriation act to approve the grant awards to school divisions.
The Board approved the recommended grant awards shown in the attachment below on June 18, 2025. The VDOE provided written notification to school divisions awarded grants under the program, at which time the grant funds will be available to pay qualifying project costs for awarded projects. The VDOE will disperse grant funds quarterly to school divisions for qualifying project costs already incurred or due and payable. Divisions will be required to submit documentation on qualifying project costs through an online application prior to the VDOE disbursing grant funds to them.
Awarded Schools
Training Resources
SCAP Reimbursement
SCAP reimbursement instructions and forms are located in SSWS under the Instructions tab. Please use the correct reimbursement form for the SCAP year of your award. These were also included in Award announcement emails that went sent to awarded divisions.