Grant Writing - the MPS way.

MPS has a grants department.  Their job is to monitor grand and funding sources, both competitive and formula.  Due to the size and economics of MPS, the district is automatically entitled to 11% of DPI grant funds.

Our grant department works as advisers to various departments.  When a grant opportunity comes in, the appropriate department is advised.  The grant is evaluated for effectiveness within the scope of the departments goals.  If there is a good fit, then they will write for a program that will benefit the district.

Today I am sitting in on an Intel Essentials class.  This is training offered through grant money, offered to 6th grade teachers who will be in the 1:1 Laptop initiative.  They undergo 32 hours of training, receive a projector, and each one writes a lesson plan at the end of the training.  In the grant proposal for this training, the grant writer,  who is a National Board Certified Elementary teacher, followed the grant requirements, and developed a budget that included salaries, benefits, projector costs,  and other administrative costs.  The grant writer will write the specific parts of the grant, while the Grants Board will fill in the district statistics.

Money from this grant was given to DPI by Intel, as part of a partnership, so this is considered a "formula" grant.  The total grant award was $308,000, a number calculated by the grant writer. It was very interesting that in the grant proposal, salaries and benefits had to be calculated in.  Even more interesting, the grant department fee $15,000 also had to be listed in the budget.  I guess everybody wants a piece of the pie!
 
Click here for the website for Intel's K-12 Education Initiative.