Funding

STEM Grants Focus on Health Sciences and Mental Health

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 08/12/19

A new round of grants will help teachers in Eagle County, CO fund their STEM efforts. The annual "E•ƒ(ec)tive" classroom grants program, sponsored by local hospital Vail Health, is intended to promote lessons and activities in STEM, arts and music and equity in the classroom. In the previous two years teachers have received almost $190,000 to support their classroom needs.

While this year's focus is health sciences and school mental health support services, teachers may choose to apply for funding for any kind of STEM-related need.

The grant program is run by the Education Foundation of Eagle County, an organization that seeks to fill what it perceives as a gap between what the state's schools can provide their students and what's really needed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average amount per pupil spent for elementary and secondary education was $12,201 in 2017. Colorado spent $9,809 per student, nearly 20 percent less than the national average.

The grant program opens to county principals and teachers on Aug. 15, through the foundation's website.