At issue in this appeal is the decision of the Iowa Department of Education not to award Ames with a statewide voluntary preschool grant[SVPP] for the 2009-2010 school year.

The primary contention of Ames is that this was not a competitive grant as the Department represented it to be. Thus, Ames argues that the decision not to fund its application was conducted outside of statutory authority in that it was "based on some unidentified criteria not equally applied to all applicants."

Appeal is denied. The Ames district is encouraged to re-apply for funding the fourth year of this grant opportunity. As the IDE moves forward in this process over the first three years most of the districts with higher poverty have been awarded.