2026–2027 PLTW school grant cycle open. Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and its corporate and foundation partners offer real financial-assistance grants to eligible schools in the United States and its territories that are introducing or expanding PLTW Launch, Gateway, Computer Science, Engineering or Biomedical Science programs. These are applicant-facing school grants, not government vendor procurement. The first priority deadline is November 6, 2026, with a further common application milestone on December 4, 2026. Individual partner opportunities have distinct deadlines; the program does not have one universal last-day cutoff.
Individual school award: funding amounts vary by corporate/foundation sponsor, proposed PLTW program, grade band, whether a school is launching or expanding, and sometimes geography. There is no single fixed PLTW-wide individual award maximum. PLTW’s live funding directory lists specific award amounts for each matching opportunity; applicants must read the actual sponsor/program listing to determine their applicable award amount and deadline. PLTW’s cumulative past-year awards are historical totals, not individual school award limits. No universal matching requirement is stated for all partners; sponsor-specific requirements control.
Basic eligibility: traditional public schools, public charter schools and private nonprofit schools located in the United States or U.S. territories. For-profit entities, individuals, informal groups, after-school clubs or extracurricular-only programs and schools outside the United States or its territories cannot apply. Each partner grant may impose additional state, sponsor, grade-level, program type or institutional conditions. Being a qualifying school does not automatically make it eligible for every partner grant.
Supported educational activities: implement or expand PLTW’s project-based PreK–12 STEM and career-and-technical-education curricular programs, including PLTW Launch, PLTW Gateway, Computer Science, Engineering and Biomedical Science. Applications should describe the planned courses, implementation schedule, qualified teaching staff, student demographics, expected outcomes, school leadership commitment, financial plan and program sustainability. Exact permissible uses and equipment, teacher-training or participation-fee rules depend on the current partner-specific grant terms.
Application and eligibility matching: schools submit one application per PLTW program through the myPLTW Grants application interface, not a separate application for each corporate sponsor. PLTW matches that application to grants for which the school qualifies. An application can remain under consideration through June 30, 2027 and cannot be edited after final submission; save-and-return-later drafts do not qualify until the application has been submitted. The funder recommends applying early in the fall because the largest number of opportunities is often awarded then.
Official sources reviewed October 26, 2026: PLTW applicant eligibility, requirements and FAQs, live 2026–27 sponsor-specific award and deadline directory, and the September 8, 2026 announcement of the 2026–27 cycle. Before submission, filter the live directory for the school’s state, school type and PLTW program and verify its precise applicable award terms and closing date. The cycle’s published November 6 and December 4 priority dates do not supersede a particular sponsor’s deadline.