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How to apply for FY27 LEAPS: ePlan login, status workflow and document uploads
Summary
Tennessee Department of Education staff walked applicants through ePlan: complete the notice of intent to gain access, use Chrome/Firefox, set application status to 'Draft Started' to edit, upload required documents and budget narratives, fix validation errors, then change status to 'Draft Completed' for approvals before peer review.
Artina Fawcett, administrative assistant with the department's extended learning team, led a step‑by‑step demonstration of the ePlan grants management portal used to submit FY27 LEAPS applications. She said applicants must complete the notice of intent to apply to gain ePlan access and to have grant roles assigned (grant director, fiscal representative, authorized agency representative).
Fawcett walked through login and navigation: select funding year 2027, open the Lottery for Education After School Programs opportunity, and use the blue "Save and go to" buttons to move between sections because ePlan does not have a back button. She advised using Chrome or Firefox (ePlan does not work well with Microsoft Edge) and warned that the system times out after 30 minutes, noting a countdown clock in the interface and recommending frequent saves.
On application status, Fawcett instructed applicants to change the status to "Draft Started" to enable editing; once uploads, budget, and required fields are complete, change status to "Draft Completed" to begin internal agency approvals. She emphasized that validation errors will block advancement to draft completed, while warnings can be ignored. All approval-chain roles listed on the notice of intent must approve their parts for the application to be forwarded to the peer reviewers.
Fawcett also described budget upload options: complete the ePlan budget or use the provided spreadsheet template and upload it to the related documents section. She stressed detailed budget narratives (hourly rates, number of staff, per-site breakdowns) and recommended titling uploaded documents using the same name as the template to help peer reviewers locate items. Finally, she reiterated that applications must be in the LEA-authorized representative approved status on the deadline for peer review forwarding.
