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Section 27h Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant - Denials and Appeal Process

Section 27h Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant - Denials and Appeal Process

To begin the appeals process, send an email to the MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov email box within 30 days of receiving the denial notice. In the email, indicate that you are submitting an informal appeal of the denial of the district’s application. Only the applying district can appeal a denial or termination of an award.

All appeals must contain all of the following information:

  1. Name of ISD, District or PSA, include EEM code,
  2. Name and Role of Administrative Contact,
  3. Contact Email Address,
  4. Clearly describe the reason for submitting an appeal, including any existing information or circumstances that may not be known to MDE that could change the outcome of your application, and
  5. An attestation that the information provided is true and complete to the best of the submitter's knowledge.

    Failure to provide all information required will result in the appeal being excluded from the process. Once submitted, MDE will review your appeal and respond with a final decision; this will become the final agency decision and be put into effect.

    *Note: If there is no additional funding to provide to districts, the outcome of a successful appeal will not result in additional funding becoming available.

    Please see below for more information regarding the review process and denials.

Frequently asked questions about denials

  • Why was my application for the Round 2 (2026) Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant denied?

    The Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant is a competitive grant. The Department of Education (Department) has received a significant number of applications and requests for funds for both rounds (2025 and 2026) the program has been active. For Round 2 (2026) the Department received over 270 applications requesting more than $23 million in funds and only had $8.5 million for teachers and $1.5 million for administrator partnerships to distribute in awards. Common reasons for denials were lack of detail in responses, not clearly answering the prompt, and including multiple unallowable expenses in the budget.

  • How was my Round 2 (2026) application reviewed and scored?

    The Department conducted independent competitive reviews of all applications submitted. Each application was reviewed by three reviewers with each reviewer scoring the application based on the Round 2 (2026) Rubric (PDF). Reviewers then came to a consensus score on the application. Applications were scored separately for teachers and administrators.

  • Why was one district approved over another for the Round 2 (2026) Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant?

    Applications were scored by independent review with the highest possible score for both teacher and administrator applications being 39. All administrator applications with a score greater than 24.32 received funding.  All teacher applications with a score greater than 20 received funding. The districts that scored below the respective cut scores were denied.

  • Why was my award less than the amount requested?

    Due to the number of applications and the amount of funds requested exceeding the amount available to award, the Department was unable to fully fund all applications. The administrator applications were funded up to $1.5 million using competitive scores and were unable to be prorated per legislation. The teacher portion had an $8.5 million allocation. Teacher awards may be less than requested amounts to allow more districts to receive funding in Round 2 (2026). Districts may have been denied funding for teachers but received funding for administrators; the reverse is also true.

Frequently asked questions about appeals

  • Can I appeal a full denial of my application?

    Yes. Per the Department of Education policy, an applicant may appeal certain Department grant-related decisions. The decisions that can be appealed include a denial or termination of an award, or repayment of grant funds.

  • Can I appeal a partial approval of my application?

    No, a district cannot appeal an approved application, even if the approval was less than what the district requested. A district also cannot appeal the denial of one portion of the application.  If a district was awarded the teacher portion and denied the administrator portion, they may not file an appeal.

  • How do I file an appeal?

    To begin the appeals process, send an email to the MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov email box within 30 days of receiving the denial notice. In the email, indicate that you are submitting an informal appeal of the denial of the district’s application.  Only the applying district can appeal a denial or termination of an award.

    All appeals must contain all of the following information:

    1. Name of ISD, District or PSA, include EEM code,
    2. Name and Role of Administrative Contact,
    3. Contact Email Address, 
    4. Clearly describe the reason for submitting an appeal, including any existing information or circumstances that may not be known to MDE that could change the outcome of your application, and
    5. An attestation that the information provided is true and complete to the best of the submitter's knowledge.

      Failure to provide all information required will result in the appeal being excluded from the process. Once submitted, MDE will review your appeal and respond with a final decision; this will become the final agency decision and be put into effect.

      *Note: If there is no additional funding to provide to districts, the outcome of a successful appeal will not result in additional funding becoming available.

  • Can I appeal an informal appeal response?

    If a district is not satisfied with the response to an informal appeal, they can submit a formal appeal to the Director of the Office of Educator Excellence. This formal appeal is required to contain all of the information required for an informal appeal but should be submitted on district letterhead.  The formal appeal must also be filed within 30 days of received the denial letter. Formal appeals may be submitted to MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@michigan.gov.