Eligible entities include Ohio public school districts (including community schools), joint vocational schools, educational service centers, the Ohio School for the Blind, the Ohio School for the Deaf, and the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Each eligible entity, at the time of application, must currently be in operation and must have been in operation and serving students for the entire school year immediately preceding the school year in which the application is being made.

Additionally, to be eligible to receive PD Grant funds eligible school districts must have:

• An eTech Ohio certified technology plan;
• Completed the current Biennial Educational Technology Assessment (BETA); and
• Completed all final reporting requirements from previous years, including final financial and impact reports and Final Expenditure Reports (FER).

Eligible entities may view their allocation amounts using the Organization Profiles.

The FY08-09 Spending Guidelines explain the permissible and prohibited uses of PD Grant funds and reporting requirements.

FY08-09 Spending Guidelines

Recipients must submit an interim financial report at the end of FY08. This report is expected to be available on the eTech Ohio website in late May and due Thursday, September 11, 2008. The interim financial report will simply account for any dollars spent at that time. Unspent funds can be used in the next year and total funds spent will then be reported in the Final Report and Final Expenditure Report (FER).

Recipients of FY08 eTech Ohio Professional Development Grants are also required to complete and submit the online, two-part (Impact and Financial) Final Project Report and Final Expenditure Report at the end of the two year grant. The Impact and Financial reports are expected to become available on the eTech Ohio website Tuesday, April 7, 2009 and due Thursday, May 28, 2009.

Because this is a two-year grant, the Final Expenditure Report (due Tuesday, June 11, 2009) must combine both the FY08 and FY09 PD allocations and report on the total amount funded for the biennium.

Unspent eTech Ohio Professional Development Grant funds at the end of the two-year grant totaling more than one hundred dollars ($100) must be returned to eTech Ohio along with the FER by Tuesday, June 11, 2009. The refund check should be made out to: Ohio Treasurer, Richard Cordray. The FER and refund check (if applicable) should be mailed to Professional Development Grants, eTech Ohio, 2323 West Fifth Avenue, Suite 100, Columbus Ohio, 43204.

The FY08 budget submitted within the FY08 PD Grant application is estimated. Entities may make changes to the budget within the guidelines listed in the spending guidelines document. Budget revisions should be reported, as applicable, on the FY08 Interim Report and/or the FY08-09 Final Project Report. These revisions should also be evident in the FY08-09 Final Expenditure Report.

The deadline for submitting the online portions of the Final Project Reports is Thursday, May 28, 2009.

These reports will be available April 7, 2009 and can be accessed from the PD Contact's FY09 application.

The FER is due via U. S. mail by Tuesday, June 11, 2009.

eTech Ohio's Professional Development Grant program provides funding to assist Ohio educational entities in making available instructional technology professional development that will provide teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to use instructional technology as a powerful teaching and learning tool and will provide administrators with the knowledge and skills needed to advance the adoption and effective use of educational technology in Ohio schools.

Eligible entities received between $1,890 and $12,150 in allocations in FY08 to be used for technology-related professional development through this program. Funding amounts were determined by a formula based upon each entity's total Full Time Certified Teacher count as reported by ODE in the FY07 District Report Card.