The purpose of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Incentive Grants is to support and strengthen quality CTE programming that result in industry-recognized certifications that help to mitigate workforce shortages. There are a number of certification programs available locally and nationally. However, the ones listed on the approved CTE Technical Incentive Grant Certifications list include rigorous and valid certification programs that have value in an employer setting.
Certificates eligible for the CTE Technical Incentive Grants fall into five categories:
For the class of 2015 DPI received 4,591 claims for payment. 657 claims were found to be ineligible. Breakdown of awards by district can be seen at https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/cte/pdf/breakoutbydist.pdf.
There are no restrictions on how the funding may be spent; however the legislation and incentive grant award is intended to support and enhance quality CTE programming that results in approved certifications that mitigate workforce shortages.
Eligible applicants are Wisconsin public school districts.
Applications will become available a year prior to the current year's graduation, typically in May. In general, they will be due on September 30 of each calendar year.
Approximately $3,500,000 is available in total funding for 2019-2020. More than 3500 awards are expected to be made. Funding is limited to $1000 per pupil regardless of the number of certifications the student has earned on the approved CTE Technical Incentive Grant Certifications list.