Ready To Learn Programming
Grant Opportunity Analysis
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education is offering the Ready to Learn Programming discretionary grant to support school readiness and academic achievement for preschool and elementary school children. The program funds the development and national distribution of accessible educational media content, digital programming, and outreach materials for children and families, with an emphasis on nationally distributed public television and Internet content. Eligible applicants are public telecommunications entities that can develop and distribute high-quality educational programming, contract with producers, localize materials, and meet the program’s evaluation criteria for significance, project design, management, and quality of evaluation. The competition has an estimated total funding level of $31 million with about three awards, and applications are due July 8, 2026; inquiries may be sent to Readytolearn@ed.gov.
Eligible Applicants
To receive funding under this competition, an entity must be a public telecommunications entity that is able to demonstrate—(a) A capacity for the development and national distribution of educational and instructional television programming of high quality that is accessible by a large majority of disadvantaged preschool and elementary school children; (b) A capacity to contract with the producers of children’s television programming for the purpose of developing educational television programming of high quality;(c) A capacity, consistent with the entity’s mission and nonprofit nature, to negotiate such contracts in a manner that returns to the entity an appropriate share of any ancillary income from sales of any program-related products; and (d) A capacity to localize programming and materials to meet specific State and local needs and to provide educational outreach at the local level. Note: If two or more public telecommunications entities wish to form a consortium and jointly submit a single application, they must follow the procedures for group applications described in 34 CFR 75.127 through 75.129.