MDE GRANT OPENS NOV 12, CLOSES DEC 11
The State Grant is scheduled to open today, Thursday, Nov 12, and close on Dec 11 at 11:59 pm. During this time your district administration will be able to go in and apply for the state grant through the Michigan Dept. of Ed’s (MDE) MEGS+ system (Michigan Electronic Grants System).
FIND YOUR ADMINISTRATOR WITH LEVEL 5 CLEARANCE
There is usually only one person in the district with the MEGS+ login and password, known as the Level 5. This person is usually found in the Superintendent’s or Finance office. For Charter schools, the Level 5 may be in the office of the managing partner. It is possible for the Level 5 to give the coach Level 4 access to input all team data, but the Level 5 is the only one who can hit submit.
ONE DISTRICT WIDE MEGS+ APPLICATION
Each school district fills out just ONE application with separate pages for each of its teams at all levels.
Example:
A district has 1 FRC team, 2 FTC teams, 3 FLL Challenge teams, 1 FLL Explore teams and 1 Discovery set.
All of those teams are input separately on the ONE application. And all go into the single spending plan too.
ALL PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS ELIGIBLE
All public and non-public school districts are eligible for the grant. This includes public districts, academies, charters and even private schools. If you are a community based team, rather than a school based team and you have public school students on your team, you may be able to have your local ISD apply for you. Private schools will have to go through a few extra steps to get set up in the system if this is their first year applying, so please allow extra time for this.
Please do not wait until the last minute to fill out the grant. The MDE is often inundated in the final week and response times can be quite long. Once your application has been submitted, you can make changes only by calling/emailing the MDE to open your application up for modifications. All modifications must be submitted prior to Dec 11 at 11:59 pm.
REMOTE/VIRTUAL OFFERINGS COUNT
This season, your team’s participation in our official remote/virtual program offerings will satisfy the competition requirement under the MDE grant.
TEAMS MUST BE FULLY REGISTERED WITH FIRST BY TIME MDE GRANT CLOSES
Teams must be fully registered for the 2020-21 season by the time the grant closes to be eligible for an award under this grant. This guide will help you navigate the registration process on the FIRST website-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRLtAcmL3b3hKtfRLXaDP-69qn7yc0F88f2iWLOAXXvw3elt_C6SnyojeS5K8QGnTKKiZC-L3X_XE1V/pub
OTHER RESOURCES
Don’t forget to apply for the NASA grant, due Nov 16-
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc/grants
We also have a step-by-step guide to filing out the State MDE grant, and for new teams to create their team on the FIRST website
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSU5PfbU8vGoVIFCWYbF5zo12cu-Ct4RyMzRBtP_mpQ_rnuYcKXGE4VbwZ61G01e8WTSMEEaVqZT6fj/pub
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WEBINARS
The MDE will offer two identical 90-minute technical assistance webinars on how to access the system and how to fill out the application:
Dates: November 18 or November 20
Time: 3:00 p.m on both dates
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87870368059?pwd=L0lZOEt5eDM5OExOajRhZnFuU0s2Zz09#success
Meeting ID: 878 7036 8059
Passcode: 03Fj5q
All official MDE grant documents will be available here: https://www.techplan.org/edtech-initiatives/rdi/competitive-99h-robotics-competition-grant/
These include step-by-step application instructions, Request for Proposal (RFP), and spending plan.
GRANT AMOUNTS
HIGH SCHOOL (Registration fee this season is $3,000 for rookies, $2,000 for returning teams)
FIRST Robotics Competition teams will get a maximum of:
$9,000 Yr 1
$8,000 Yr 2
$7,000 Yr 3
$6,000 Yr 4
$5,000 Yr 5 and beyond
PLUS
$1,500 Coach Stipend (one per building, per program level)
*Actual stipend and team support amounts may change based on availability of funding
MIDDLE SCHOOL
FIRST Tech Challenge teams will get a maximum of:
$4,000 Rookie
$3,000 Returning teams
PLUS
$1,500 Coach Stipend (one per building, per program level)
*Actual stipend and team support amounts may change based on availability of funding
UPPER ELEMENTARY
FIRST LEGO League-Challenge teams will get a maximum of:
$800 Rookie
$500 Returning teams
PLUS
$1,500 Coach Stipend (one per building, per program level)
*Actual stipend and team support amounts may change based on availability of funding
LOWER ELEMENTARY K-3
FIRST LEGO League-Explore teams will get a maximum of:
$350 Rookie
$200 Returning teams
PLUS
$1,500 Coach Stipend (one per building, per program level)
*Actual stipend and team support amounts may change based on availability of funding
PRE-K
FIRST LEGO League-Discover teams will get a maximum of:
$400 All teams
PLUS
$1,500 Coach Stipend (one per building, per program level)
*Actual stipend and team support amounts may change based on availability of funding
Remember that all of my e-blasts can be found under FRC Resources on the firstinmichigan.org website.
Feel free to call me anytime. If you are having trouble registering, please call Sandy Smith at 419-345-1209. She will be happy to walk you through registration.
Warm Regards,
Gail Alpert
gail@firstinmichigan.org
248-425-4148