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 entities 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).

Organizations eligible for FY08 funding are required to complete and submit the online grant application by December 6, 2007.

Organizations with electronic banking will receive their funds via electronic transfer. Checks will be mailed to those organizations without electronic banking.

The person designated as the eTech Ohio PD Contact by the eligible organization must complete the online application and Project Report. The online reporting tool is designed to accept input only from the designated eTech Ohio PD Contact.

Please call the PD Grant Officer at (877) 383-2406 or Customer Service (614) 485-6650 (Work) to have the PD Contact designation changed.

Yes. Benefits should be included within the payment, not in addition to it.

No. When software, hardware and/or student content are bundled with the cost of professional development, the funded organization may only use PD Grant funds to cover the cost of the professional development itself. The funded organization must ask the training agency for a breakdown of the cost of the software/equipment/student content and the cost of the professional development. Only the cost of the professional development can be paid with PD Grant funds. The cost of the software/hardware/student content must reflect what they actually cost the training agency.

The budget submitted in the application is an estimated budget. Organizations may make changes to this budget within the stipulations stated in the Professional Development Spending Guidelines by reporting actual expenditures on the Final Financial Report and the Final Expenditure Report.

Because this grant is a two-year grant, the only Final Project Reports (Conclusion Requirements) for FY08 will be an Interim Financial report. The Interim Financial Report will be accessible in May 2008. It can be accessed under the FY09 PD Grant. Completing the Interim Financial Report for FY08 will allow for the FY09 funding to become available. The FY08 Interim Financial Report can be accessed by the PD Contact on the eTech Ohio website through the My Applications feature in the Hall Pass. Select PD Grants FY09.

The FY08-09 Final Expenditure Report (FER) will be a combined report of both years of funding. The Final Expenditure Report is a PDF that can be accessed by the PD Contact on eTech Ohio's website through the My Applications. The Final Expenditure Report (FER) cannot be accessed until after the FY08-09 Final Impact and Final Financial Reports are approved because data from these reports automatically populates the Final Expenditure Report (FER). The signed Final Expenditure Report should be mailed to the PD Grant Officer after signatures from the organization's Superintendent/CEO and Treasurer/CFO are obtained.

The deadline for submitting the FY08-09 PD Grant application is Thursday, December 6, 2007.

The FY08 Interim Financial Report is expected to be available on the eTech Ohio website Tuesday, May 6, 2008 and due Thursday, June 19, 2008.

The deadline for expending all FY08-09 PD Grant funds is Thursday, May 22, 2009.

The FY08-09 Conclusion Requirements (Final Impact and Financial Reports) and FER are expected to be available on the eTech Ohio Website as of Tuesday, April 7, 2009 with Conclusion Requirements being due Thursday, May 28, 2009 and FER being due Thursday, June 11, 2009.