Membership in a BGA

33. Non-government schools seeking to apply for CGP funding need to be a member of the relevant NT BGA in their state or territory.

34. When a BGA receives an application from a school to become a member, the BGA should advise the school of the roles and responsibilities under the CGP of all parties, including the Commonwealth, the BGA and the school.

35. Where a BGA considers a school's membership of a BGA would adversely affect the operation of the BGA, the BGA should provide details to the department within 60 days of the receipt of such an application for membership. A BGA should not reject a school's application to become a member without the department's agreement.

36. BGAs should maintain accurate registers of their member schools. BGAs should notify the department in writing within 14 working days of any new BGA member school or any existing BGA member school withdrawing its membership.

37. BGAs must enter into written agreements with BGA participant schools relating to their participation and acceptance of grant conditions (a 'BGA Participant Agreement'). BGAs must ensure that BGA participant Agreements are consistent with the provisions of the Act, the Funding Agreement and the Administrative Guidelines. All BGA Participant Agreements must be properly executed and copies kept by BGAs. BGAs are required to provide the Department with access to these BGA Participant Agreements, upon request.

Existing schools

38. The Australian Government wishes to promote access by eligible non- government schools ('BGA Participants') to CGP funding through participation in a BGA. On receiving an application to participate, BGAs must advise the BGA Participant of the rights and responsibilities of the BGA Participant, the BGA and the Australian Government under the CGP. Where a BGA considers a BGA Participant's inclusion would adversely affect the operation of the BGA, the BGA must provide details to the Department within 60 days of receipt of such an application for participation. A BGA must not reject an application to participate without the Department's agreement. The Department will assess whether a school has good prospects of receiving approval for funding under the Recurrent Grant Funding (RGF).

39. To be eligible for a Capital Grant, the school and the proposed project must meet eligibility criteria set down in the Australian Education Act and the Capital Grants Program Guidelines 2018.

40. To be eligible to apply for grants for capital expenditure, a non-government school must:

a) be a participant, or prospective participant in the NT BGA. Application/ Participation Agreement forms, together with relevant details, are obtainable from the NT BGA;

b) be in receipt of or have good prospects of receiving approval for funding under the Australian Government General Recurrent Grants Program in respect of all locations, levels of education and students to which a project relates. Usually this means satisfying the Australian Government of the school's non-profit and incorporated status and evidence that the school is registered or has good prospects of being registered by the Northern Territory Non-Government Schools Registration Board. Schools may apply for capital funding prior to receiving Territory registration;

c) be able to demonstrate to NT BGA that it is financially viable in accordance with the Schools Assistance Act 2008. The school must remain financially solvent;

d) contribute at least the amount specified as the school contribution in the grant offer. Where the cost of an approved project, following the acceptance of tenders, is less than the estimated cost upon which the Australian Government grant offer is based, the grant will normally be reduced by the amount by which the project cost has decreased;

e) demonstrate to NT BGA a financial need for the grant, that is, show that it and its supporting community do not have the capacity to meet the total cost of the project;

f) demonstrate to NT BGA that the project will contribute to the objectives of the Program;

g) be proposing a project that is consistent with sound educational planning, within both the school and the environment within which it is operating;

h) unless otherwise specified, use the funded facilities for the purpose of providing school level education services for locations, levels of education and students that have been recognised by the relevant State or Territory government and are included in the list of schools approved to receive Australian Government Recurrent Funding;

i) demonstrate that the fees they are charging for overseas students cover the full cost of their education at the school, including the cost of capital facilities used by these students;

j) demonstrate to NT BGA that the school has an appropriate maintenance plan in place. The submission of a Maintenance Plan is mandatory if a grant is to be offered;

k) be proposing a project that does not exceed area or cost standards;

l) demonstrate current adequate insurance cover for the partial loss and/or complete replacement of its school buildings;

m) be proposing a project that will not adversely affect the national estate value of a place in the Register of the National Estate in terms of the provisions of the Australian Heritage Act 2003;

n) agree not to propose for Australian Government funding, projects which do not comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and its amendments or the Disability Standards for Education (2005) as reflected in the Building Code of Australia applying at the time;

o) if proposing a project which is to be partly or wholly undertaken by parents and friends, you must demonstrate that these people have the necessary skills and capacity to complete the project. NT BGA must be contacted before the formal application is submitted to discuss such a situation. If this affects cost estimates, i.e. the cost of parent labour is less than using tradesmen, the application should be based on the actual cost of the parent help;

p) be aware of the conditions associated with the receipt of any grant offer, and feel able to agree to these conditions prior to accepting an offer of a grant. These conditions are set out in the Schools Assistance Act 2008, Administrative Guidelines for Commonwealth Programs for Non-Government Schools 2014 - 2018;

q) ensure that there is no conflict of interest by personnel involved in the project. NT BGA must address/remove any conflict of interest at any stage of a project and must document steps it has taken to do so.

r) own the land or have a lease for the land and/or buildings that has a period to run commensurate with the period in which the capital grant may be required to be repaid if the school no longer provides school education (see Commonwealth Government Right to Repayments).

New schools

41. Proposed new schools may apply for CGP funding in line with the CGP objective of making provision for needs arising from new demographic and student enrolment trends, or to meet other schooling needs.

42. To be considered for CGP funding, proposed new schools must be able to demonstrate some certainty of successful establishment, operation and governance in relation to Commonwealth, state or territory and local government requirements. New schools may apply for capital funding prior to receiving recurrent funding.

43. Prior to submitting a grant application from a proposed new school, the BGA should submit to the department:

a) The name, address and contact details, and level of education of the proposed new school

b) Evidence that the proposed new school has received or applied for state or territory registration as a school

c) Evidence that the approved authority for the proposed new school would be likely to be able to meet the basic requirements for approval under Section 75 of the Act, including in relation to being a fit and proper person and having arrangements for managing and supervising the provision of education at the school (e.g. incorporation details, expertise of key personnel).

44. Proposed new schools applying for the CGP require an identifying Australian Government Education ID (AGEID) number (refer to Sections 45 - 46 of the 2018 CGP Guidelines for further information on how to obtain the AGEID).

45. The CGP grant will be cancelled and the funding must be repaid in full to the BGA, if by the end of the funding year, the school is not approved in relation to the following:

a) recurrent funding

b) final state or territory registration as a school

c) Department recognition of the approved authority.

Use of Premises

46. The underlying principles are that:-

a) Capital Grants are for educational purposes only and not religious.

b) The principal use of the buildings must be for school purposes.

47. It is apparent that in some situations, buildings owned by schools will be used by other bodies e.g. community or church groups. Also, situations may occur where another party owns land used by a school. The guidelines below are designed to clarify the issues.

a) The ownership of each parcel of land and/or buildings, for which a Grant is sought, must be clear and authenticated.

b) The applicant must be formally incorporated under the relevant legislation

c) Where the land will be built on by another party, a legal lease agreement must be drawn up between the lessor as one party and the school as lessee. This must be for a minimum of twenty (20) years determined from the date of completion of the project. A longer lease is preferable.

d) Grants can only be given for buildings in the exclusive possession or control of the school and used for educational purposes as part of the school's normal Program.

e) Where the school wishes to let the buildings (for which a grant has been made) to a third party, the letting arrangements must be formalised in writing.

f) All lease and rental agreements must be correctly drawn-up as legally binding documents.

Assessment of Area Standards

48. The Administrative Arrangements for Block Grant Authorities require NT BGA to adopt area standards for assessment of applications for project funding.In order to be eligible to receive a capital grant, the area standards adopted by NT BGA should only be exceeded in special circumstances.

a) The current guide for global area standards used for school buildings are 6.13m2 per student for primary schools and 9.75m2 per student for secondary schools. Projects which increase the global area of a school beyond these standards will not normally be eligible for funding. Schools should seek advice from NT BGA on the application of these area standards to their projects.

b) The enrolment figures used in the area guidelines calculations will be those estimated for the first full year of use of the facility - this will normally be the year after the completion of the project.

c) For a school with multiple campuses, the calculations must be based on the combined area and enrolment figures of all the campuses.

d) To encourage protection from sunlight for children, the area of unenclosed, external covered areas (including travel) may be totally discounted for the purpose of calculating a school's total area.

e) Older schools with buildings inappropriate to today's educational needs or current enrolment levels may be discounted down to the area that buildings built today for the relevant purpose would have. This discounting may only be done after the proposed use of existing buildings has been optimised (by as much rearrangement of functions and adaptation of buildings as possible).

f) If NT BGA believes there are exceptional circumstances that should override the standard area criterion it must explain the circumstances and obtain approval from DEEWR before the application can be considered eligible.

g) Demountable buildings, which will continue to be used after the funded facilities are completed, must be included in a school's area.

h) The percentage of area standards that a school's area will be after completion of a project must be calculated in the following way:

Global guideline allowance divided by current total school area.