The Exceptional Needs Program (ENP) is a building replacement program that provides school districts with the ability to protect the health and safety of their students with a new facility.
The focus of the ENP program is to identify the facilities in most need of replacement from among the eligible applicants. The program has a single building orientation, so it will not necessarily fund a district's entire facilities needs (though that may occur in some instances). Districts awarded an ENP building may also participate in both the Classroom Facilities Assistance Program and/or the Expedited Local Partnership Program (ELPP) to complete the balance of their facility needs.
Eligibility is open only to those districts with a ranking on the yearly School Facilities Eligibility Ranking List of lower than the 75th percentile.
The Extreme Environmental Contamination Program, a subprogram of ENP, was established for the purpose of the relocation or replacement of school facilities required as a result of extreme environmental contamination. Unlike the umbrella Exceptional Needs Program which is capped at the 75th percentile, eligibility for Extreme Environmental is not restricted by the district’s position on the equity list. Higher wealth districts are eligible and are responsible for their proportional local share. The Commission makes a funding determination based on the seriousness of the environmental contamination, whether the contamination violates applicable state and federal standards, and whether the facilities are no longer suitable for use as school facilities.