Expand AP® Access and Support College Readiness
Finding the funds to provide the best learning experience for your students can be challenging. As a busy educator, you need to get to the source quickly and determine which solutions align with your curriculum needs and learning objectives.
To save you time, we’ve assembled some links to funding options that may be used to support your school’s AP® program, as well as for students preparing for SAT® and/or ACT® exams.
Federal Stimulus Funds
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed several stimulus bills to help alleviate some of the challenges schools and districts faced due to the pandemic. This government-provided money can be used for multiple purposes such as the health and safety of students, staff shortages, and learning loss. Some of the benefits of federal stimulus funds are that they afford the ability to provide students with educational technology devices, mental health services, and improved school facilities. They can also help address the needs of low-income families and children with disabilities, professional development, instructional aids, and school resources.
CARES Act
ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) Fund - Education and Technology During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Department of Education awarded these grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) for the purpose of providing local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that are LEAs, with emergency relief funds to address the impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the Nation. (U.S. Dept of Education, 2022).
CARES Act
GEER (Governor’s Emergency Education Relief) Fund - Education and Technology During the COVID-19 Pandemic
This emergency block grant empowers Governors to decide how best to meet the current needs of students, schools (including charter schools and non-public schools), postsecondary institutions, and other education-related organizations in their State so that faculty continue to teach and students continue to learn (TEA Grants Administration, 2022).
CRRSA Act
ESSER II Funds
ESSER II Fund awards to SEAs are in the same proportion as each State received funds under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, in fiscal year 2020 (U.S. Dept of Education, 2022).
ARP Act
ESSER III & EANS (American Rescue Plan Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools)
Funds are provided to SEAs and LEAs to help safely reopen and sustain the same operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Nation’s students (U.S. Dept of Education, 2022).
Federal Funding Programs
Federal funding programs provide money to schools and districts through a variety of programs. Each program provides funds that have to be used in specific ways based on the target student population and program purpose. These funds are available for schools with qualifying student populations (usually high-poverty schools), regardless of government emergency funds and without the need for an application (such as in the case of grants). This is a strong benefit for schools with high-need populations, since students who are at-risk require greater support in order to experience true educational equity.
Title I
Academic Equity for Disadvantaged Students
Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides financial assistance to local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards (U.S. Dept of Education, 2018).
Title II, Part A
Effective Instruction Supports
The purpose of the program is to increase academic achievement by improving teacher and principal quality. This program is carried out by: increasing the number of highly qualified teachers in classrooms; increasing the number of highly qualified principals and assistant principals in schools; and increasing the effectiveness of teachers and principals by holding LEAs and schools accountable for improvements in student academic achievement (U.S. Dept of Education, 2018).
Title IV, Part A
Well-Rounded & Current Student Support
The purpose of the program is to improve student’s academic achievement by increasing the capacity of States, local educational agencies, schools and local communities to: (1) provide all students with access to a well-rounded education; (2) improve school conditions for student learning; and (3) improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy for all students (U.S. Dept of Education, 2022).
Title V, Part A
Promoting Informed Parental Choice and Innovative Programs
Funding Transferability for State and Local Educational Agencies (LEA) allows LEAs flexibility to target federal funds to programs that most effectively address their unique needs (TEA, 2022).
Title V, Part B
Rural Education Initiative (SRSA, REAP, and RLIS)
Part B of Title V of the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) contains Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) initiatives that are designed to help rural districts that may lack the personnel and resources to compete effectively for Federal competitive grants and that often receive grant allocations in amounts that are too small to be effective in meeting their intended purposes (U.S. Dept of Education, 2020).
Title VI
Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native Education Formula Grant Program
This program protects people from discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance (U.S. Dept of Education, 2020).
Title VII
Impact Aid for Federally Disconnected Students
The Impact Aid law (now Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) has been amended numerous times since its inception in 1950. The program continues, however, to support local school districts with concentrations of children who reside on Indian lands, military bases, low-rent housing properties, and other Federal properties, or have parents in the uniformed services or employed on eligible Federal properties (U.S. Dept of Education, 2022).
Title X, Part A
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance (MV) for Homeless and Foster Students
Among other things, the program supports an office for coordination of the education of homeless children and youths in each state, which gathers comprehensive information about homeless children and youths and the impediments they must overcome to regularly attend school (U.S. Dept of Education, 2016).
EETT
Enhancing Education Through Technology
The primary goal of this program is to improve student achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools (U.S. Dept of Education, 2020).
IDEA
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Special Education Students and Children with Disabilities
This program assists states in providing appropriate free public education in the least restrictive environment for children with disabilities, ages three through 21 (U.S. Dept of Education, 2022).
Additional Funding Sources
State Funding Sources
The vast majority of educational funding comes from state-provided funds. State income and sales taxes raise money that is administered to school districts through specific formulas that vary from state to state. State governments, on average, contribute $7,058 per student. In addition to this, local governments contribute about $6,868 per student. On the other hand, the federal government provides just $1,193 per student.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Grants, Private Funding, and Crowdfunding
Federal and state funding is not the only way schools can generate money needed for educational resources and programs. Several organizations and private foundations offer funds for educational causes. These funds are given to districts, schools, and individual educators through competitive grant application processes. In addition to these grants, there are a variety of “crowdfunding” organizations that allow groups of people to donate smaller amounts of money toward a larger funding goal for an educational cause. Crowdfunding encourages community members to “give what they can for a good cause,” boosting community morale in the process.
