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DESE has defined an educational vision where all students are known and valued for who they are and what they bring to the school community, including their unique identities, languages, and backgrounds. Data from the 2024-2025 school year indicates that 27 percent of Massachusetts students speak a language other than English as their first language; suggesting that a significant proportion of families may benefit from interpretation and translation services in schools. This need is growing each year. DESE seeks to support districts to more fully and equitably communicate with families that speak a language other than English and support parents/guardians in participating in critical choices impacting their children.
In 2019, the School Interpreters Task Force released a set of recommendations to improve interpretation in school settings. Since then, DESE has made significant strides in meeting those recommendations, including establishing coursework to train three levels of interpreters in education and providing support to districts in training their bilingual employees and interpreters for the education setting as well as creating language access plans to improve systems district-wide.
The Interpreter in the Education Setting Training grant is meant to support districts in developing their capacity to provide high-quality interpretation services by training bilingual individuals in their school system to become trained as interpreters in the education setting. See additional information on DESE's Language Access website.
Priority will be given to districts in the Strategic Transformation Region.
Districts with greater than 40 percent students whose First Language is not English (FLNE).
Any Local Education Agency (district, charter school, or collaborative).
Federal CFDA 84.027A
Federal grant funds must adhere to:
The receipt of grant funds is contingent upon the grantee being able to certify that it will comply with the Massachusetts General Laws, including G.L. c. 40A, § 3A, the MBTA Communities Act. Compliance with the MBTA Communities Act is determined by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
Each LEA may apply for up to $35,000.
Approximately $500,000 is available.
This RFP is the governing document for these grant funds.
Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.
Funds may be used for the following activities:
Activity 1: Pay the approved registration fee for bilingual district employees who may serve as school or district interpreters to attend courses from vendors approved on the Interpreter in Education Course Delivery Approved Provider list - 24MAOSTBH1. Funds must be used for individuals enrolling in Tier 2 and Tier 3 within the fiscal year or individuals who have already completed Tier 2 and would like to enroll in the Tier 3 course.
Activity 2: Provide stipends to bilingual employees who successfully complete the Tier 3 DESE-approved interpreter training course. Each individual may receive up to $1,000 for successful course completion- stipends may only be given to Tier 3 completers.
Activity 3: District employees that are trained as instructors in a district that is on the Approved Provider list (24MAOSTBH1) may receive a stipend of up to $2,500 to teach the Tier 3 course.
Upon Approval – 6/30/2026
Office of Strategic Transformation
Breanna Higgins
Wednesday October 1, 2025*
Proposals must be received at the Department by 5:00pm Eastern on the date due.
*Grant start date cannot be prior to DESE receiving a substantially approvable Application Submission as directed in this RFP's Submission Instructions. Goods and Services cannot be procured prior to Grants receiving and approving an application submission. Funds cannot exceed the project duration end date.
Questions and Answers — Applicants can find all the questions asked regarding this funding opportunity and DESE's response.
The FY26 0199 Interpreter in Education Training will be submitted in Grants for Education Management System (GEM$)
New organizations that do not have an established LEA with DESE skip to Step 3.
Step 1: Establish and assign proper roles before the grant due date/time. Grant Submission at the LEA level requires roles to be established for Grant writer for the specific fund code, LEA fiscal for financial review/approval, and Superintendent/Chief Executive sign off.
All roles should be established prior to the grant due date and all appropriate forms should be either uploaded to GEM$, maintained at the LEA level or sent in to the DESE RFP contact as described on the individual forms. The user guidance documents and forms are found on the GEM$ homepage under DESE Resources. These forms can be accessed without logging in to the system.
Step 2: Submit the grant through all LEA steps in GEM$. There are three LEA steps a competitive grant must be submitted through by the due date and time to be considered for funding:
Competitive grant applications are considered submitted once the grant application is submitted by the Superintendent or their designee through the "LEA Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved" step in GEM$. In order to be considered for competitive funding, applicants must submit a grant application through the LEA Superintendent Approved stage by the due date and time listed in the RFP. Please plan accordingly.
The Superintendent / Chief Executive Approved Step allows for the organization lead to review and approve the grant application. Removing the requirement for the Part I Standard Contract Form, this step signifies Superintendent /Chief Executive sign off. Any grant budget changes requiring signature, will re-execute this step when amended signifying the organization lead is approving these changes.
Step 3: (If applicable) New organizations request temporary organization access. New organizations are entities that have not been established as an LEA in GEM$. Entities that do not have an organization established in GEM$ must contact the DESE Program Unit issuing this grant at a minimum 5 business days prior to the grant due date for temporary organization access.
Temporary Access will need to be created by DESE before you can then assign the proper roles and submit the grant as outlined in Steps 1 and 2.
Failure to provide DESE with GEM$ Temp Organization Access Request at least 5 business days prior to the due date may result in not meeting the submission due date listed above. DESE cannot accept or review applications after the due date.
Last Updated: July 17, 2025