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July 31, 2025
LANSING – One-hundred and fifteen traditional public school districts, charter schools, and intermediate school districts in the state have successfully completed applications to be considered for state grant dollars that will fund innovation in teaching literacy, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announced.
MDE will award funding through the competitive Reading Excellence and Advancing District (READ) Innovation Grant.
As part of the State School Aid Act for fiscal year 2025, the legislature designated $10 million in Section 35n funds for MDE to provide startup money to eligible school districts to deploy innovative literacy initiatives that make a positive impact on student literacy rates.
“We appreciate the significant interest that local districts have in innovation in literacy,” State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice said. “The READ Innovation Grant supports Goal 2 of Michigan’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan, to improve early literacy achievement.”
Eligible applicants will participate in a series of competitions for three rounds of funding during this three-year grant, which will culminate in a $500,000 award for one district in each competition category. Competition categories are elementary and secondary innovations.
Applications submitted for the first round of funding included a description of the research-based literacy innovation aligned to the science of reading. A minimum of 36 of the 115 applicants will receive up to $187,500 to implement their innovation during the 2025-26 school year. Funded applicants will be notified in September.
Districts will report progress and six will be selected as finalists. The finalists will receive $375,000 in additional funding during the 2026-27 school year to expand their innovations.
During the summer of 2027, the six finalists will report progress and two that are determined to have made the greatest impact on student achievement will receive $500,000 as incentive money.
This $10 million in Section 35n funding is in addition to $87 million in Section 35m funding passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to fund research-based, high quality instructional materials for Michigan’s students in fiscal year 2025. Sixty-four percent of Michigan districts and ISDs applied for Section 35m grant funding, an indication of a significant need for and interest in research-based materials and resources that will have an effect on student literacy achievement.
In its 2025 Legislative Priorities Letter and throughout the year, MDE encouraged Michigan lawmakers to include and increase funding for Section 35m in the next State School Aid budget to support local districts and ISDs as they implement Public Act 146 of 2024, a generational new literacy/dyslexia law that requires districts to use research-based, science of reading materials, to screen for characteristics of dyslexia in children, and to intervene when these characteristics are found, all beginning in the 2027-28 school year.
“Additional Section 35m funding from the state legislature this year would help more districts get an early start on implementation of this transformative new state literacy/dyslexia law,” Dr. Rice said.
The additional funding would allow districts to apply for their first Section 35m grant, or for current grant recipients to apply again for another category. For example, if a district was awarded funding for Tier 1 materials, it could apply for intervention materials, which would allow them to continue to build their research-based literacy program.
“Student achievement continues to be our focus,” said Dr. Delsa Chapman, deputy superintendent of the MDE Division of Assessment, School Improvement, and Systems Support. “We are excited about providing this set of vital resources to local districts.”
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