Grants & Grant Management

OSPI works to ensure efficient and economic use of federal and state funding in compliance with appropriate regulations. The programs listed below offer new policy and funding in order to promote the improvement of performance for students and schools alike.

OSPI has extended the rollout timeline for the new EGMS application! Federal grants will transition to EGMS this spring/early summer. However, state grants will transition during spring/early summer of 2024, with the exception of ESSER grants which will stay in iGrants. This means that these grants will remain in iGrants for another year, requiring a dual system approach to grant management. This approach will ensure the successful rollout of EGMS, for all grants, while meeting intentional and targeted improvements for school districts.

Education Grant Management System (EGMS)

The Education Grant Management System (EGMS) is an application designed for users to apply for funding opportunities, manage grants, and award grant recipients.

ESEA Consolidated Grant Application

The Consolidated Grant Application (CGA) launched last spring. LEAs apply and process claims for seven Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) programs through the CGA.

21st Century Learning

The Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program supports the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. OSPI oversees the administration of the federal grant, (Title IV Part B), which funds 21st Century programs for our students.

ALE Accelerating Unfinished Learning

This grant also encourages accelerated learning recovery through academic and social emotional screening, individualizing a response via ALE, and providing the funding for school districts who would otherwise be financially disincentivized to offer ALE.

Balanced Calendar

In Washington state, a traditional school year lasts 180 days. Students have a few short breaks along the way and a long break in the summer. Instead of concentrating 180 school days into nine months, a balanced calendar spreads them throughout the year. Schools may use the breaks to host “intersessions,” where they can provide additional learning experiences if needed.

Beginning Educator Support Team

BEST Grants become available in late spring or summer depending on funding.

Closing Educational Achievement Gaps (Title I, Part A) 

Title I, Part A funding can support early learning and Kindergarten to grade 12. These programs and services provide customized instruction and curricula that help students meet academic standards and take an active, engaged interest in what they learn and do. As the oldest and largest federal education program, Title I, Part A programs build equity of opportunity for children whose struggles often keep them on the academic sidelines.

Community-Based Organizations

The Washington State Legislature allocated $12,885,000, for grants to community-based organizations (CBOs), to collaborate with Washington school districts to support learning recovery and acceleration.

Program Review & Support (Formerly CPR)

Program Review & Support is part of OSPI’s oversight process for multiple federally funded programs under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This process involves state program staff working with Local Education Agency (LEA) program staff as partners to review and improve programs and supports to students.

Digital Equity & Inclusion

An essential part of implementing OSPI’s educational technology standards is advocating for sufficient funding for all districts to help close opportunity gaps related to educational technology. Through the legislative support of House Bill 1365, OSPI will soon provide grants focused on digital equity and inclusion to support these standards.

Every Student Succeeds Act

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaced No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on December 10, 2015. It is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

Homeless Education Grants

Federal and state grant funding is available to districts on a competitive and/or formula basis. Learn more about the federal McKinney-Vento Act Grant, the state Homeless Student Stability education Program (HSSeP) Grant, and the American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) grant.

Improving Teacher and Principal Quality

The purpose of Title II, Part A is to increase the academic achievement of all students by helping schools and districts improve teacher and principal quality. This includes teacher preparation and qualifications of new teachers, recruitment and hiring, induction, professional development, and retention. In addition, Title IIA funds may be used to improve the skills and knowledge of principals for effective school leadership.

LifeSkills Training Substance Abuse Prevention

The Botvin LifeSkills program teaches youth how to cope with and manage stress and anxiety, build positive relationship and communication skills, and develop refusal skills to prevent and reduce substance use and abuse.

Open Educational Resource

Many districts are developing or adapting openly licensed resources. As a result, we have a tremendous opportunity to share resources across districts and reduce duplication of efforts. These small, competitive grants are provided to districts developing their own OER core or unit-level instructional materials.

Reimagine Education Project

The Reimagine Education Project fund local pilots, through the 2022-2023 school year, to provide regular professional learning and networking, collect evidence on successful practices, and support the continued transformation of our education system and inform future policy and funding decisions.

Rural Education Initiative

The Rural Education Initiative is a suite of federal programs designed to address the unique needs of rural local education agencies (LEAs). These LEAs frequently lack personnel and resources needed to compete for federal competitive grants and often receive formula allocations that are too small to be used effectively for their intended purposes.

Small LEA Support Team (SLST)

OSPI, in collaboration with statewide education partners, has created a team of OSPI staff dedicated to supporting small LEAs of Washington that have a student enrollment of less than 1000. The SLST serves these LEAs and has convened an SLST Advisory Committee to guide this work.

Student Support and Academic Enrichment

The Student Support and Academic Enrichment program provides funding to improve students’ academic achievement by increasing school district capacity. This helps to provide all students with access to a well-rounded education, improve school conditions for student learning and increase the use of technology to enhance the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.