Skip to main content
Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions About 27h Grants

Mentoring Standards, Curriculum, and Professional Learning Creation Grant  

  • The Mentoring and Induction Standards are now available to districts. As indicated in the application for the District Mentoring Services Grant districts are expected to align mentoring services with the Department published standards. The standards are made available to the public on the main page of the Section 27h Mentoring and Induction Grants.

Program Evaluation Grant 

  • In 2024, the Department of Education (Department) had a competitive grant open to find an organization that would partner with the Department to evaluate the effectiveness of mentoring and induction programming in Michigan and offer recommendations for improvements.  The award was given to American Institutes for Research. More information on this may be available on the main page of the Section 27h Mentoring and Induction Grants.

Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant

Fiscal Year 2025 Applications

  • In 2025, the Department of Education (Department) received 378 applications totaling a request for funds in the amount of $42,463,651. The Department was only authorized to issue up to $12,500,000 to districts in Fiscal year 2025 and awarded 121 of the 378 districts for a total of $12,067,921.
  • Each application was reviewed by multiple reviewers and received a consensus score out of a total of 50 points possible. An administrative review was also conducted on the application budgets. As a result of the competitive review process, only those districts scoring the highest were approved to receive funds in Fiscal Year 2025.

  • Common reasons for applications to have received lower scores include:  

    • The budget contained unallowable expenses such as administrative costs. During the application process, a document explaining what was considered allowable expenses was provided to districts. (Section 27h Mentoring and Induction FAQ.pdf)
    • The application lacked details about the problem and the proposed activities that would address the problem. An instructional document was provided to applicants explaining how to obtain a high score on the competitive application. (Template for District Support Grant Application.pdf)
    • The activities included in the application didn’t align with mentoring and induction activities as described in the law MCL 388.1627h.

    Due to the high volume of applications for Fiscal Year 2025 the Department was only able to approve those applications that received a high score and didn’t have any of the reasons for denial referenced above.

  • The expenditure period for these grant funds is October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026 as is written on the Grant Award Notification. This allows districts to reimburse themselves for parts of their plan that may have already taken place. Any reimbursement needs to be well documented, and records kept at district level. Since funds were released in FY 26, according to MCL 388.1618a, all state funds must be spent by the end of the fiscal year after receiving funds, so these funds may continue to be spent until September 30, 2027 if needed.
  • The Department of Education is not allowing amendments to budgets. Budget amendments to change priorities but keep the total award amount the same do not need to be reported to NexSys, but should be sent by email to MDE-EdWorkforceGrants@Michigan.gov to ensure it is an allowable expense. The change should then be documented and shared in the final expenditure report (FER). Any budget amendment that will reduce the budget does not need to be amended in NexSys, but will need to be documented and shared in the FER. Any funds not spent at the end of the expenditure cycle will be recaptured through reconciliation. 

Fiscal Year 2026 Applications

  • The Fiscal Year 2026 application was opened June 15, 2026, and will close July 20, 2026. The Department is only authorized to issue up to $10,000,000 to districts. Based on the prior year's volume of applications the Department of Education is anticipating another highly competitive round of applications for Fiscal Year 2026. More information on this may be available on the main page of the Section 27h Mentoring and Induction Grants.

  • Public Act 15 of 2025 made the following changes to the Mentoring and Induction District Support Grant:

    • Stipends, books and materials, professional learning, staffing costs, and other resources are now only allowable for teachers; administrators and counselors are excluded from the those allowed activities per subsection 4 of MCL 388.1627h.
    • Districts may partner with an established state professional organization to provide mentoring services to school administrators.
      • An amount equal to $3,000.00 per administrator per year or the actual program cost, whichever is lesser, of the costs described in this subdivision may be reimbursed from grant funding.
      • The Department of Education (Department) shall develop a list of approved providers of mentoring activities for school administrators. 
      • The Department is allowed to award up to $1,500,000.00 per year to provide mentoring services for school administrators only.
    • The Department is allowed to award up to $10,000,000.00 per year maximum including the $1,500,000 provided for mentoring services for school administrators.
    • If any funding remains from the $10,000,000 after the stipends and the administrator mentoring funds referenced above are issued the Department may use the remaining funds for other approved mentoring activities.

Financial Information

  • The Department’s financial team has determined that when employer benefit costs are mandatory the amounts of those benefits cannot be covered by grant funds.  In the Michigan Office of Retirement Services (ORS) newsletter issued in April 2024, ORS indicated that 27h grants are reportable as income and therefore benefit costs are mandatory. MPSERS Employer News - April 2024
  • There are two separate sections to this application: teachers and administrators. Applicants may apply for one or both of these sections. Due to funding caps imposed under Section 5, applications up to $1.5 million only can be approved for administrators. This may cause some applications to be approved at an amount less than what was applied for.
  • As defined in MCL 388.1627h(4)(c), professional learning expenses covered by this grant must be in addition to professional learning requirements described in MCL 380.1526. Furthermore, mentoring and induction activities already in place prior to October 1, 2025, may be supplemented but not supplanted.  Mentoring activities after October 1, 2025, may be reimbursed.

Mentoring for Adminstrators

  • As defined in Section 5, the Department shall develop a list of approved providers of mentoring activities for school administrators. Approved Providers of Administrator Mentoring Activities.
  • No. Public Act 15 of 2025 only allows districts to contract with 1 or more established state professional organizations to provide mentoring services to school administrators.

  • For an organization to be included in the list of Approved Providers, they must meet all the following criteria:

    1. Is an established state professional organization, and
    2. Provides mentoring services to school administrators, and
    3. Has a quality program that aligns with the  established under MCL 388.1627h.

      The Department has developed an application for state professional organizations to complete.
  • Once an application is received by the Department, the applicant will be notified of the decision within a week or two.
  • School administrators that oversee instructional programming who are in the first three years of their role would qualify for the mentoring support under this grant. This includes administrators that are new to a position but not new to the profession.
  • As defined in Section 4(e), a district may contract with 1 or more established state professional organizations to provide mentoring services to school administrators. The contract may include professional learning.  No other grant funds can be used for administrator professional learning or development.

Mentoring for Teachers

  • Yes, the law allows for mentors to be retired teachers.
  • As described in MCL 380.1526, a new teacher is a teacher within the first three years of employment in classroom teaching.