ED Publishes New Discretionary Grant Priorities

May 23, 2025

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) published a set of competitive grant priorities that the agency says it intends to apply to all discretionary grants moving forward. Grant competitions will incorporate three new priorities: “evidence-based literacy,” “school choice,” and “returning education to the States.”

The focus on literacy would require the incorporation only of those activities backed by “strong” or “moderate” evidence, with a statement on ED’s website indicating a desire for “science of reading”-based programs. And discretionary grants would be awarded to applications that demonstrate efforts to increase access to public charter schools and other non-traditional models. Grants could also be awarded to applications that expand or replicate schools with a specific focus on a number of areas, including science, technology, mathematics, and engineering (which explicitly includes computer science and the use of Artificial Intelligence in the notice), career and technical education, “patriotic education,” and “classical education,” or to applications that support education savings accounts. The agency also emphasized “returning education to the States” by prioritizing proposals carried out by State agencies and workforce development boards, which ED’s website called a “powerful tool to re-envision existing programs” and “reduce administrative burdens at the Department.”