* PDE Grant for Remote Learning *

April 3, 2020

The PA Department of Education has just announced an “Equity Grant” to provide funding for schools to purchase computer equipment, such as laptops, tablets, and Internet hot spots; or to use towards providing instructional materials, such as paper lessons and coursework.  The grant is initially set at $5 million from state funds, but PDE intends to allocate funding from PA’s portion of the new federal CARES Act to increase the size of the fund, as soon as that funding becomes available.

Important:  Grant applications will become available on Monday, April 6 and must be submitted through PDE’s eGrants system by Friday, April 10.   This is a tight window designed to get the funds to districts as soon as possible.

Schools with the highest percentages of students lacking access to resources will be given priority in receiving the grants.

At this time, this is all the information I have.  I will send you more specifics when the grant guidelines are announced on Monday.

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Stay safe and healthy.

– Julie

p.s.  I’m extremely proud of PDE for pulling together this grant so quickly. 

Julie Tritt Schell
Pennsylvania E-rate Coordinator
717-730-7133 – o
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org