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U.S. Department of Education lays out FY2026 SRSA application steps, deadlines and UEI requirements
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Summary
The Department’s REAP team walked eligible local education agencies through SRSA eligibility, the FY2026 application in Connect Survey, the Master Eligibility Spreadsheet and UEI/SAM.gov registration, noting the application opened April 13 and must be submitted by May 18, 2026.
Victoria Hammer, REAP group leader and director of the rural, insular areas and Native Achievement programs, opened the Department of Education webinar and said the session would cover how to apply for fiscal year 2026 SRSA funding and what applicants should keep in mind.
"My name is Victoria Hammer, and I serve as the REAP group leader and as the director of the rural insular areas and native achievement programs under which the REAP program falls," she said at the start of the presentation.
Eric Schultz, a REAP presenter, summarized the program’s statutory basis, saying REAP is authorized under Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and was established in the early 2000s to assist rural local educational agencies (LEAs) in accessing federal school-improvement funds. "We here at the Department ... make grants directly to eligible LEAs nationwide," he said, describing the Small Rural School Achievement (SRSA) grant and the Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program’s differences.
The REAP team highlighted who qualifies for SRSA: an LEA is "small" if its total average daily attendance across schools is under 600 or if the LEA is located in a county with a population density below 10 people per square mile; the LEA must also meet the Department’s rural definition based on NCES locale codes or state designation. For RLIS, a district must be both rural and low income, with a low-income threshold the presenters said is at least 20% of students ages 5–17 from families below the poverty line, using small-area income/poverty estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Emily Lair walked through the FY2026 REAP timeline and the SRSA application window: the SRSA application opened April 13, 2026; eligible LEAs must complete and submit the application by May 18, 2026; and SRSA awards will be made on a rolling basis beginning July 1 and continuing through September 2026. "Eligible LEAs have until 05/18/2026 to complete and submit their application," she stated when reviewing the slide with dates.
Lainie Umland reviewed the REAP Master Eligibility Spreadsheet (MES), describing the spreadsheet’s tabs (summary; eligibility for all LEAs; hold-harmless; data dictionary), the columns that show eligibility and estimated allocations, and the weekly update cadence during the application and award period. Presenters advised LEAs to confirm primary and secondary contact information and to use the MES and NCES ID as key references.
Jordan Haydel led a step-by-step Connect Survey walkthrough for applicants. He noted the invitation email containing each LEA’s unique application link was sent April 13 from no-reply@surveyconnect.gov, and that the application is single-submission, takes roughly 10–30 minutes to complete, can be saved and resumed using the same link, and includes auto-populated contact and UEI fields when data are on file. "If your LEA does not have a UEI ... please visit sam.gov as soon as possible to register your UEI free of charge," Haydel said, adding that applicants must submit their active UEI to reap@ed.gov after registration.
The presenters emphasized administrative details that can block awards: applicants must provide a registered, active UEI that is renewed annually and ensure their primary contact receives and retains the confirmation email after submission. The REAP team also warned against paying third-party services to register or renew UEIs; "UEI registration and renewal through SAM.gov is free," Lair said, and encouraged participants to use the Federal Service Desk (FSD) helpdesk for SAM support.
The webinar closed with an invitation for participants to submit chat questions and with reminders that the REAP team will post the slide deck and recording and will continue to add resources in chat and via the reap@ed.gov mailbox.
Next steps: LEAs should confirm MES data and program selection (if dual eligible), verify or obtain and renew their UEI via SAM.gov promptly, and submit the SRSA application no later than May 18, 2026 to be considered for FY2026 SRSA awards.
