2025 - 2026 Teacher/Staff Mini Grant
Each year, the Schwarzkopf Elementary PTA offers a mini-grant to qualifying teachers and staff. This is a great way to grab supplies for your classroom, bring a popular lesson to life, or enchance the learning environment for your students.
Who Qualifies?
- Any teacher or staff at Schwarzkopf Elementary School
- Must be a current PTA member (join here)
- All requests must be approved by school admin
What Is the Process?
After you've completed your anual PTA membership, fill out the form below. All requests must be made by August 28th, midnight. At that time, the application will disappear from the website. There are two options:
1. Turn in your request and the PTA will purchase the item(s) on your behalf. We'll deliever to your classroom as soon as we're able. You can also request to have it shipped directly to your home (some shipments can be tricky, so we try not to ship to the school). We can order things from online retailers, like Amazon, Scholatstic (or other) Magazine Subscriptions, or other places. We can also work with you to pickup physical goods from local stores (Ikea, Costoc, speciality stores, etc.), but it may take some logistics work to make it happen.
2. Make the purchase yourself and request a check reimbursement. Due to PTA rules/regulations, your reimbursement check may take up to a couple of weeks to process, although, we'll move as quickly as we can. All requests must come with an official receipt/bill or sale. To make things simple, please stick to items from legit retailers/companies, as opposed to garage sales or items from online marketplaces. Your request will still need to be approved by admin, so please keep that in mind before making purchases yourself.
New This Year
We asked the PTA membership to allow teacher grants to take place as part of our summer spending budget. That means we can make orders sooner than we have in the past. Our fiscal year starts on July 1st, but we cannot spend money until after our annual audit is complete. Once that happens, we could potentially have your items to you BEFORE school starts.
Mini-Grant Application
25-26 PTA Teacher Mini-Grant Application
Note: Fields marked with an * are required.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I know what to request, especially since I won't know which (if any) items from my Amazon Wish list are purchased by parents?
It can definitely be a challenge to know what to request. The application deadline isn't until August 28th a midnight. That gives you a little over two weeks of school before having to make your decision. You can wait to see which items on your wish list remain. The other option is to request items you absolutely need before school starts or that you don't expect parents to buy. You might also request items from the grant that you wouldn't ask parents to purchase for whatever reason. If you're not sure what to ask for, let us know, and we can look at what other teachers have requested and make recommendatoins.
I don't need my items until later in the school year. Do you have to deliver them so early?
Yes. We can't technically track the funds as spent until the items are delivered. While we know that storage space in your classroom is at a premium, the PTA has only a mere closet to keep all of our goodies.
Can I just ask for cash or a gift card?
No. You can ask, but no =)
Can I put in a request for something over $75 and pay the difference myself?
The short answer is that we prefer that you didn't. The accounting on our end gets complicated. The lother answer is, "it depends." There are cases where this would make sense; it would also require a few signatures of approval. Just let us know the situation and we'll figure out the best way to get what you need.
Can I request more than one item?
Absolutely! You can request up to $75, whether that is one item or 20. Please keep in mind that the $75 cap should cover taxes, shipping, and any other fees beyond the base price. Schwarzkopf PTA is a IRS-reeognized 503c3 nonprofit organization, which means we have tax exempt status. We have accounts set up with many places to easily take advantage of this exemption, but not all businesses are easy to work with. For example, to get tax exempt at some membership-based retailers, the membership has to be in the name of the nonprofit organization. We often use personal memberships when shopping at these places, so we may not be able to get tax exemption. Places like Walmart and Target are hit and miss depending on the cashier. Amazon is easy.
Do I have to shop from Amazon?
Nope. Amazon is easy, but it isn't the only option. We are confined to places that take debit cards (or in some instances, check). In the past, teachers have requested items from specialty stores (like ELL, speech, or ESE materials), magazine subscriptions, and even local brick and motor stores. If you're unsure, ask.
What if I have other quesetions?
Email [email protected]