Top State for Talent Grant: High Demand Career Equipment

The Top State for Talent Grant: High Demand Career Equipment is a Georgia Department of Education Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education funding opportunity intended to support the implementation or enhancement of CTAE programs that deliver High Demand Career Pathways. Local system CTAE Directors may apply on behalf of qualifying district programs. The program emphasizes pathways that respond to significant industry demand for high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand employees. Industry need must be identified through a Standard Occupational Classification, or SOC, Code appearing on the State Workforce Development Board state or regional list and must have a clear CTAE program alignment to a post-secondary credential, industry credential, or closely related occupational field. Funding is tied to Construction Related Equipment modified lab designated amounts. The appendix establishes maximum funding levels by lab type, ranging from $12,000 for a Barbering Lab to $324,000 for a Heavy Equipment Operator lab. Other examples include $90,000 for Automotive Services, $140,000 for Mechatronics and Food Processing, $81,000 for Manufacturing and several engineering-related labs, and $67,500 for Culinary Arts, HVACR, Metals, and Collision Repair. Grants will be awarded until available funds are depleted. Each grant must include funding for the purchase of capital equipment. The school system is responsible for needed physical modifications to laboratory space, including electrical, lighting, plumbing, filtration, structural, and similar facility needs. Grant expenditures must follow the approved application budget and applicable state and federal accounting requirements. The program for which funding is requested must be either a current CTAE program or a new CTAE program with a certified teacher already in place. The program must operate in a CTAE laboratory approved by the Georgia Department of Education Facilities Division. Applicants must demonstrate significant industry need and the required SOC Code and credential alignment. Programs must also have a current Advisory Committee that includes industry and educational partners and meets two to four times per year. Industry partners must currently provide, or commit to provide beginning in the current school year, work-based learning opportunities for students. A robust advisory committee is viewed favorably during review, and discretionary awards are intended for programs that meet or exceed expectations related to need, implementation, training, and industry career-path placement. Applications opened August 5, 2026 and must be submitted by August 26, 2026 at 5 p.m. Because no time zone is stated, the deadline is treated as Eastern Time for data-entry purposes. A complete submission consists of the Grant Application Form, a Budget Template uploaded within the application, and a Signature Form uploaded within the application. Applications are reviewed, scored, and ranked by trained Georgia Department of Education approved reviewers. The review considers eligibility, completeness, responsiveness to the RFA, merit, federal indicators of need, and special considerations such as satisfactory completion, spending, and reporting under previous grants. The scoring rubric allocates 10 points for a completed application, 20 points for the executive summary, 20 points for industry credentials, 20 points for the advisory board committee, 20 points for workforce impacts through industry-related career paths, and 10 points for grant compliance. The published timeline provides for grant review and selection on August 28, 2026, State Board of Education approval of award allocations on September 24, 2026, Grant Award Notifications on October 5, 2026, and funds being made available through the Consolidated Application on October 12, 2026. Awards are not final until approved by the State Board of Education and an official Grant Award Notification is issued. Grantees may not obligate funds before receiving the official notification. The formal grant-period section states that the project must be completed and all funds expended by June 30, 2027, with final reports due July 30, 2027. The overview and program-description sections separately state that funds will be eligible for reimbursement from notice of award through June 1, 2027. Because those dates differ in the source, both are preserved rather than reconciled. Awardees must maintain purchased equipment on the Georgia Department of Education approved Equipment Inventory form and comply with fiscal and impact monitoring through the Consolidated Application, Grants Accounting Online Reporting System, and Monitoring and Risk Assessment processes. Grantees must provide annual workforce-impact data for five years, including enrollment and retention, graduate placement in industry-related career paths, industry credentials earned, work-based learning placements, advisory committee activities, post-secondary outcomes, employment outcomes, retention and wage growth, and credentials recognized by the State Workforce Board. Systems must also submit required completion and expenditure reports with supporting documentation. The named program contact is Roger Ivey, Program Delivery Program Manager, Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education, Georgia Department of Education, at rivey@doe.k12.ga.us. The application guidance separately provides roger.ivey@doe.k12.ga.us for accessibility accommodations and assistance.

Explicitly identify the State Workforce Board SOC Code and credential alignment; provide a detailed implementation timeline with responsible personnel and evaluation methods; demonstrate authentic advisory committee engagement and preferably more than the minimum two meetings per year; show current or committed WBL opportunities and strong industry-career placement strategies; document local system resource contributions where applicable; submit a complete application and maintain clear compliance and annual reporting assurances