Education Stabilization Fund Discretionary Grants

EDUCATION STABILIZATION FUND

84.425B (REM) and 84.425G (RWP)

Discretionary Grant

Congress set aside 1% of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the CARES Act for grants to States with the highest coronavirus burden. The Department will make these grants available to States most affected by coronavirus through two separate grant competitions.

The Education Stabilization Fund-Rethink K12 Education Models Grants (ESF-REM Grants) provide support to State educational agencies (SEAs) in States with the highest coronavirus burden to address specific educational needs of students, their parents, and teachers in public and non-public elementary and secondary schools in accordance with section 18001(a)(3) of the CARES Act.

The Department of Education is seeking peer reviewers for its FY 2020 Education Stabilization Fund-Rethink K-12 Education Models (ESF-REM) discretionary grant competition.

State educational agencies will propose projects that: (1) provide funding through microgrants so parents can meet the educational needs of their school-age children through increased access to high-quality remote learning; (2) develop and/or expand high-quality course-access programs or statewide virtual school; or (3) demonstrates a rationale to address the specific educational needs of their States, as related to remote learning.  Thus, the Department seeks peer reviewers with a range of experience, education, and background including, but not limited to:  remote learning; State education administration and curriculum for remote learning; and parent involvement to support remote learning.

Peer reviewers will independently read, score, and provide written comments for grant applications.  The application review will be conducted electronically from the reviewer’s location in early July 2020.  Peer reviewers will receive an honorarium.  If you are interested, please read the ESF-REM Call for Peer Reviewers for additional information and instructions.  The deadline to submit your credentials to be considered to serve as a peer reviewer for the ESF-REM competition is June 12, 2020.

Questions for ESF-REM may go to: ESF-REM@ED.gov

The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education will host the REM pre-application webinar on Wednesday, June 3 at 1:00 PM Eastern Time. 

Participation in the webinar is optional; however, interested applicants should register at the following link: http://new.grantreviewinfo.net/content/REMReg.  If you have questions regarding the registration process or would like to request accommodations, please direct them to EDApplicant@grantreview.org.

This webinar is an opportunity for SEAs interested in applying for a REM grant to hear the Department discuss critical elements associated with the grant competition such as eligibility, application requirements and selection criteria, as well as learn more about the application submission and review processes.

The pre-application webinar will also include opportunities for participants to ask questions.  Following the webinar, the presentation slide deck, recording and webinar transcript will be posted to this website.

Secretary DeVos Awards More than $180 Million to States Rethinking K-12 Education to Better Meet Students’ Needs During Coronavirus Disruption

On July 29, 2020 Secretary DeVos announced awards for the Education Stabilization Fund – Rethink K-12 Education Models (ESF-REM) grant program to eleven states here. The program supports new, innovative ways to access education with an emphasis on meeting students’ needs during the coronavirus national emergency. A total of thirty-nine states submitted applications in response to the program’s Notice Inviting Applications published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2020. Applications submitted by eligible applicants can be found here along with the technical review forms used by peer reviewers to evaluate and score each application.

The Education Stabilization Fund-Reimagine Workforce Preparation Grants (ESF-RWP Grants) provide support to help States leverage the power of entrepreneurship to create new educational opportunities and pathways that help citizens return to work, small businesses recover, and new entrepreneurs thrive. These programs also build new capacity within the state to offer short-term postsecondary programs that are responsive to the needs of individuals to more rapidly adapt and evolve to ever changing workplace and community needs. This funding opportunity is offered under section 18001(a)(3) of Division B of the CARES Act.

ESF-RWP is managed by the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). Questions for ESF-RWP may go to: ESF-RWP@ED.gov