Education Department opens $4.5 million competition to prepare special-education personnel at HBCUs, tribal colleges and MSIs

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs held a pre-application webinar to summarize the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for CFDA 84.325M, a competition that provides $4,500,000 total and is expected to fund about 18 awards to prepare special-education, early intervention and related-services personnel at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, tribal colleges and other minority-serving institutions. Tracy Dixon, competition manager for the program, led the presentation and repeatedly cautioned that the webinar is informational only and does not replace the NIA.

Why this matters: the 84.325M grants aim to increase the pipeline of certified personnel who provide services to children with disabilities. Successful grants may provide up to $350,000 per year for as many as five years (not to exceed $1,250,000 total) and must dedicate at least 65% of the award over the project period to scholar support.

Details of eligibility and funding: Dixon said eligible applicants are institutions of higher education (the IHE itself, not a department or project director) or nonprofit organizations that can legally apply on behalf of an IHE.…