FY2025: English Learner Education Support

Fund Code: 0181

Purpose:

This competitive grant program, aligned with the DESE Educational Vision , is one of the multiple ways DESE is supporting districts that have English learners and wish to implement new and innovative ELE programs and supports for innovative ELE programs, while also providing districts with an opportunity to create a more culturally and linguistically diverse workforce.

There are four goals for the grant. Districts may apply for funding to fulfill any one or more of the four goals:

Goal 1: Develop and/or implement an alternative bilingual ELE program for English learners.

Goal 2: Create (and cultivate) or continue a "grow your own" bilingual education hub that would support and encourage statewide initiative and collaboration, improve the Bilingual Education educator pipeline, share knowledge to accelerate the adoption of proven and recognized programmatic models for English learners, and develop successful models that can be replicated for years to come.

Goal 3: Create (and cultivate) a "grow your own" ESL Teacher hub that would improve the ESL educator pipeline and will provide training alongside a mentor teacher and concurrent coursework in the area of ESL licensure.

Goal 4: Develop high quality ESL and/or dual language curriculum or enrich the existing ESL and/or dual language curriculum, or align purchased curricular materials to WIDA Standards / MA Frameworks that prioritize deeper learning and the linguistic and academic needs of multilingual learners.

Priorities:

Competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status.

Eligibility:

This competitive grant program is designed for districts, charter schools, regional schools and collaboratives.

Funding Type:

State Line Item 7027-1004

Grant awards are contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act.

Funding:

Approximately $2,000,000 is available.

This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.

Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Fund Use:

Fund use must be consistent with the priorities described above and the requirements associated with DESE's Educational Vision.

Project Duration:

FY25 School Year: Upon Approval – 6/30/2025
FY26 Summer: 7/1/2025 – 8/31/2025

Program Unit:

Center for School and District Partnership

Contact:

Diana Gentile

Date Due:

Friday, September 27, 2024

Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on the date due.

All responses must be received by the due date listed above. Failure to do so will result in disqualification. Responses not received on time will not be reviewed. Applicants applying after the due date may be notified their application was received late and will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted as directed in the Submissions Instructions below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification. If you need assistance with submitting your application, please reach out to the contact person listed on this funding opportunity.

Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date listed in the RFP.

Additional Information:

Districts applying for Goal 2 or Goal 3 funding will submit ONE application on behalf of the hub. The district submitting the application will act as fiscal manager for the hub. Other participating districts will provide an affirmation of their participation (i.e., superintendent's email) to be included in the application. For Goal 2, please note any districts that are new to the bilingual hub this year.

Please submit questions to diana.gentile@mass.gov . Questions and answers will be posted to Headlines on the English Learner Education page.

Submission Instructions:

The FY25 FC0181 English learner Education Support will be submitted in our new GEM$ system. GEM$ is a cloud-based fiscal and program management grant system that will eventually phase out the use of EdGrants.

Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)

Competitive grant applications are considered submitted when the Superintendent / Chief Executive approves the grant application in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application by the due date listed in the RFP

The Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved Step allows for the organization lead to review and approve the grant application. Removing the requirement for the Part I Standard Contract Form, this step signifies Superintendent /Chief Executive sign off. Any grant budget changes requiring signature, will re-execute this step when amended signifying the organization lead is approving these changes.

New Organizations: Grant Submission requires applicants to have their organization established in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization established in GEM$ must contact the DESE Program Unit issuing this grant at a minimum 5 business days prior to the grant due date for temporary organization access.

Failure to provide DESE with GEM$ Temp Organization Access Request at least 5 business days prior to the due date may result in not meeting the submission due date listed above. DESE cannot accept or review applications after the due date.

Please Note: Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off. All these roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These form can be accessed without logging in to the system.

Last Updated: August 23, 2024