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Future Proud Michigan Educator Staff Grant

Future Proud Michigan Educator Staff Grant

Future Proud Michigan Educator Grow Your Own (GYO) Programs for School Staff Grant

Two education staff members sit at a table looking at a piece of paper. Text reads: Grow Your Own | School Staff - Sec. 27B

The GYO Staff grants support partnerships between PK-12 schools and educator preparation providers to develop pathways for school support staff to earn initial teacher certification or for certified teachers to earn additional endorsements. 

GYO programs funded via the state budget are an extension of Michigan's efforts to grow and diversify the educator workforce and reduce educator shortages.

In high-quality GYO programs, both partners commit to wrap-around support of candidates through shared mentorship, coaching, observation, and assessment of emerging teachers from the beginning of teacher preparation coursework through the first years of their service as certified teachers. Define, Identify, and Fund Nontraditional Pathways into the Teaching Profession: A resource for Michigan Districts provides key considerations for developing a GYO program and descriptions of exemplary programs. Grow Your Own Educators: A Toolkit for Program Design and Development also provides a collection of user-friendly resources on essential elements of high-quality GYO programs.

Frequently Asked Questions

For more information or support, please contact MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov.

GYO FY26 Educator Development: Tiered GYO Grants for School Staff

MCL 388.1627b (Grow your own and educator development programs; competitive grant process; performance reports) was newly updated in the State School Act to provide $70 million for three tiers of GYO funds for 2025-2026 (FY26). To distinguish it from previous rounds of GYO funding that had been available from different sources, the FY26 GYO Grant is called the “GYO Educator Development Grant.” 

Each tier of funding has varying requirements. Before applying, interested districts are encouraged to consult the table below to identify their potential tier for funding. All of these requirements are based in statute. IMPORTANT: Please be aware that documentation is required at the time of application to substantiate each of the criteria below.

Tiered GYO Grants for School Staff 

Tier One

Tier Two

Tier Three
  • Have been in operation in this state for at least 5 years, and evaluated for at least 2 years by a rigorous, independent Michigan-based evaluator, and the results of the program have been made publicly available.
  • Have at least 2 consecutive years of public financial audits of the program with no material findings.
  • Demonstrate broad geographic reach and investment into teachers and school leaders at every experience level, in partnerships established:
    • with not fewer than 15 local education agencies across both urban and rural regions;
    • that extend back to the start of the 2023-2024 school year; and
    • bound by written agreements that include data sharing with an independent evaluator for evaluation purposes.
  • Generate private matching funds.
  • Have been in operation for at least 3 years.
  • Demonstrate promising internal results, but are not yet supported by an independent evaluation.
  • Serve a geographically diverse population, including both urban and rural areas.
  • Have a demonstrated track record of receiving private philanthropic or corporate funding.
  • Have been in operation for fewer than 2 years.
  • Do not yet have independent evaluation data available.
  • Are limited in scope or geography.
  • Include a documented path to scale or expand the program to serve more educators or additional districts.

For purposes of better understanding the meaning of “in operation” as provided by statute, MDE has prepared a helpful guidance document: Definition of In Operation for FY26 GYO Grants

How to Apply

The FY26 GYO Application will be available on NexSys as soon as the application window opens. Only Michigan intermediate school districts (ISDs), traditional school districts (LEAs), or public school academies (PSAs) may apply. In order to access and begin the application, a designated staff member from one of these entities must have a level 5 NexSys security access.

Below are complete instructions on how to initiate the application, and then how to complete the application based on your funding tier selection at the time you apply.

As always, applicants are encouraged to contact the GYO Team at MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov with any questions related to the FY26 GYO Educator Development Grants prior to application.

Congratulations to Grantees

The Office of Educator Excellence (OEE) has completed all rounds of awards and would like to congratulate all awardees of the Section 27b GYO School Staff Grant.

The OEE has developed a separate website that lists all grant awardees by fiscal year: 27b Award Listings. In addition, the links to each round's award announcement are found below:

Grant Administration Timeline

Important dates and deadlines for the grant’s performance period are listed in the table below. These dates are also available in the updated Section 27b GYO School Staff Grant Monitoring and Guidance Document, located in the new Grant Administration Resources section further down this page.

Grant Performance Period: The timeframe during which the grantee must incur, document and request reimbursement for eligible expenses. This period includes three key phases: grant start, grant implementation, and grant ending.

Grant Administration Timeline

Grant Start

Grant Implementation

Grant Ending
  • Grant award date: The date the district receives the Grant Award Notification (GAN).
  • Grant start date: March 3, 2021. Eligible expenses obligated and incurred after this date may be retroactively reimbursed, irrespective of the grantee’s award date.
  • Obligation period: March 3, 2021 to September 30, 2026. Obligations outside of this window are considered ineligible under this grant.
  • Expenditure period: March 3, 2021 to November 29, 2026. Expenditures outside of this window are ineligible for reimbursement under this grant.
  • Reimbursement period: [Grantee’s grant award date] to November 29, 2026. Grantees may request reimbursement via NexSys throughout this window. (See the new Grant Administration Resources section below for instructions.)
  • Reporting period: Recurring annually and semi-annually, depending on the report. Participant and expenditure reports are collected semi-annually. Budget and performance reports are collected annually.
  • Grantee obligation end date: September 30, 2026. (Final Expenditure Report opens.)
  • Grantee expenditure end date: November 29, 2026. (Final Expenditure Report due.)
  • Summative performance report due date: January 29, 2027.
  • Note: You may have seen that the federal grant ending date is 12/31/2026. This closeout deadline does not apply to the grantee, but to the State of Michigan. The grantee grant ending dates are necessarily set before the federal end date to allow the State of Michigan sufficient processing time to meet this federal deadline.
  • The grant start date is the date that the district receives the Grant Award Notification (GAN), but please note that candidates can be reimbursed for allowed costs back to March 3, 2021, well before the applications for the grant were available on GEMS/MARS.
  • The federal government provided the State of Michigan with a grant ending date of 12/31/26, but to account for reporting timelines that the State of Michigan must observe for the federal government, districts should be aware of the following:
    • September 30, 2026, is the new end of the obligation period. Districts should have identified all potential candidate recipients for reimbursements before this date.
    • This date also marks the date when the Final Expenditure Report (FER) is open on NexSys. This means that districts should begin preparations for finalizing, and then stopping, all expenditures under the grant.
    • November 29, 2026, is the deadline for the submission of the FER on NexSys. After that date no further expenditures can be made, since they will not be able to be reported on the FER.
  • Between now and the submission of the FER, districts can pass reimbursements to candidates (or pay for expenses on behalf of their candidates) at any time, and they may post requests for reimbursement funds to the district on NexSys at any time. See the new Grant Administration Resources section below for instructions.
  • For all other reporting deadline dates between now and the submission of the FER, please refer to the Section 27 GYO School Staff Grant FY23 Monitoring and Guidance document, especially pages 10-11.

To contact the GYO team for questions about the administration timeline and for all other education workforce grant-related questions, please email MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov.

Grant Administration Resources

Eligibility

  • Employees may be either directly employed by the Local Education Agencies (LEAs), Public School Academies (PSAs) or Intermediate School Districts (ISDs or working in an LEA, PSA, or ISD under contract with a third-party staffing agency.
  • Grant funds may be used to support non-certificated employees working toward initial teacher certification or currently certified teachers looking to add an additional endorsement to a Michigan teaching certificate.
  • Eligible expenses for this grant include teacher preparation coursework tuition and program fees at an eligible educator preparation provider, books, licensure testing fees, travel to and from coursework, substitute permit costs, and costs for 6th-12th grade EXPLORE programs.
  • Candidates who receive funding from the GYO Staff grants cannot concurrently receive the MI Future Educator Fellowship or Stipend.
  • Applications were submitted by Michigan LEAs, PSAs, or ISDs. 
  • All GYO programs will require a signed partnership agreement with one or more Educator Preparation Provider. 

Michigan Preparation Providers Resources

Note: For the four directories below, the “CTE” and “Teacher” listings are eligible for the Grow Your Own grant.