Tanya Vals, Hardin County Schools grant writer, told the board she has secured roughly $783,000 for the district since she began the role in fall 2022 and described how the funds have been used in classrooms and programs.

Vals said her first partial school year produced a little over $60,000 in awards. For the 2023–24 school year she reported $233,619 awarded, plus $490,000 committed for the 2024–29 period, bringing her two-year total to about $783,000. She said the district is awaiting decisions on slightly more than $300,000 in applications and currently has four pending grants above $100,000.

Examples Vals provided included equipment for John Hardin High School’s food science lab and library updates, additional counseling services at North Hardin High School, reading intervention at Heartland Elementary, preschool funding including the construction of a mobile preschool bus, orchestra and band instruments, classroom document cameras, and materials for special-needs students. Vals said the $100,000 award for the bus will fund retrofit work; district staff and students are preparing to remove seats so the vehicle can be reconfigured for a mobile preschool program.

Vals said she solicits needs districtwide each fall and matches requests to grant opportunities, adding that some funders require extensive application steps and long waits before awards are announced. She described regular sources including quarterly grant postings by district staff and updates from the Kentucky Department of Education grants page.

The board thanked Vals for her work. No formal board action accompanied the update.