Virginia school divisions seeking state assistance for school construction projects have a significant opportunity this summer, as applications are now open for the Fiscal Year 2026 School Construction Assistance Program (SCAP). With more than $209 million available for competitive grants, the FY26 funding round represents the largest SCAP award cycle to date.
The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) announced that applications are due July 27, with grants available to local school boards and regional Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs for the construction, expansion, and modernization of public school facilities.
The expanded funding follows action by the 2025 General Assembly, which appropriated an additional $110 million for the FY26 grant cycle. Combined with previously unobligated SCAP funding, the Virginia Board of Education (VBOE) will award $209,251,437 through this year’s competitive process.
Eligible applicants may submit up to three projects, with individual school projects requiring a minimum cost of $500,000 and multi-school capital improvement projects requiring a minimum cost of $1 million. Projects must achieve at least 65 points under the Board’s competitive scoring system to be considered for funding.
Board Advances Revised SCAP Guidelines
At its June 25 meeting, the Virginia Board of Education voted to accept for final review revisions to the SCAP guidelines for the 2024-2026 biennium. The changes are intended to broaden access to funding, update scoring criteria using current data, and respond to feedback from school divisions and local governments.
Among the most significant revisions are:
- New enrollment criterion: School divisions with increasing or stable enrollment will receive up to five additional points based on the latest Fall Membership Report.
- Greater recognition of building conditions: The Board adjusted scoring for facilities in fair and good condition to allow more projects to qualify for funding.
- Updated need indicators: Point values were revised for Identified Student Percentage (ISP), fiscal stress, poverty, and other financial indicators using the most current available data.
- Expanded credit for smaller renovation projects: Minor building renovations now receive points where they previously did not.
- Clarified reimbursement procedures: The revised guidelines establish procedures for reconciling final project costs when actual construction costs are lower than estimates used to determine grant awards.
According to Board materials, several of these changes were developed in direct response to comments from school divisions and local governments seeking broader geographic distribution of awards and more flexibility within the competitive scoring process.
Opportunity for Counties
VACo has consistently supported expanding state investment in school construction while providing localities with additional financing tools to address aging facilities and growing infrastructure needs.
The increased SCAP funding comes alongside recent legislative action expanding local authority to pursue voter-approved school capital sales taxes, providing counties with additional opportunities to leverage state and local resources for major capital improvements. This was a long held legislative priority for VACo.
County administrators and local government finance officials are encouraged to coordinate closely with their school divisions during the application process to ensure projects are ready for submission and supported by local capital planning efforts.
Applications must be submitted through VDOE’s Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS) portal no later than July 27. School divisions planning to submit projects that have not yet received a VDOE school project number should complete the required Planned School Form before applying
VDOE will also host a SCAP FY26 informational webinar on July 16 from 3:00–4:00 p.m. to review application requirements and answer questions from prospective applicants.
VACo Contact: Jeremy R. Bennett