Grants & funding index

Full pitches, eligibility, and links for PulsePoint — SPED workflow, IEP-aligned progress evidence, and district-ready metrics. Use with the funding dashboard and district demo sandbox.

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Master pitch (copy into any application)

Problem

Special education teams must document IEP-aligned instruction, accommodations, progress toward goals, and behavior support—often across restricted and general education settings—while producing evidence for compliance, family conferences, and LCAP reporting. Data is scattered across paper, spreadsheets, and disconnected tools; leaders cannot see consistent program use or outcomes.

Solution — PulsePoint

PulsePoint is a teacher-first SPED operations platform: IEP goal tracking, standards-aligned assignments with built-in supports, progress logging, behavior incident capture (as support load, not student labeling), and leadership dashboards fed from MongoDB aggregates. Optional AI drafts growth notes for staff review only—nothing is sent to families without human approval.

Evidence & equity

  • Every assignment completion creates a traceable progress row tied to goals and subjects (math, science, ELA).
  • Funding and program-impact views report roster coverage, monthly activity, grade proxies, and per-student tables under FERPA policy.
  • District demo sandbox (port 13002) is isolated from live production data; Grafana shows demo API/Mongo health only.

Outcomes we commit to in a pilot

  • Higher % of case managers logging weekly progress with artifacts usable in IEP meetings.
  • Reduced time to assemble goal-update evidence (target: measurable hours saved per teacher per month).
  • Clear adoption metrics: active teachers, progress rows per month, students with documented supports.

One sentence

PulsePoint helps SPED teams document IEP-aligned instruction and student progress in one place—so districts see program use and outcomes, not just attendance.

Who should be the applicant?

You are…Best funding pathPulsePoint role
Teacher innovator Oakland Ed Fund, Principal’s Innovation Fund, district pilot MOU Lead user + champion; partner with SPED director as co-signer
LLC / startup IES SBIR, district paid pilot, subcontract on federal grants Prime applicant (SBIR) or vendor of record (district)
501(c)(3) nonprofit OSEP 327 family, Cal-Well partnership, Voice Options (if AT-aligned) Prime or intervention partner
District / SELPA IDEA Part B, LCAP, CDE competitive grants Procurement + implementation lead; you are the vendor

90-day priority (recommended order)

  1. District paid pilot (OUSD or SELPA) — fastest path; use funding page + Grafana demo.
  2. Oakland Public Education Fund / PIF — single-site validation.
  3. IES ED SBIR — if incorporated small business; plan R&D narrative.
  4. Partner-led federal/state grant — university or SELPA as lead, PulsePoint as technology intervention.
  5. Grants.ca.gov alerts — subscribe for Education + Disabilities categories.

District budget (not a grant — often the real money)

LCAP · Supplemental & concentration funds

Priority High fit District applies

Source: Local Control Funding Formula — districts describe use in the LCAP.

Typical scale: Varies by district UPP; often six–seven figures district-wide for high-needs services.

Full pitch

PulsePoint increases services for high-needs students including students with disabilities served in inclusive settings by giving gen-ed and SPED shared visibility into accommodations, progress, and standards-aligned work. LCAP actions can cite: (1) improved evidence for IEP and reclassification conversations, (2) reduced administrative burden on case managers, (3) measurable monthly progress volume and subject coverage exported from PulsePoint Mongo aggregates. Position as incremental service improvement, not a replacement for counseling or assessment.

Links

Director email templates & meeting script →

IDEA Part B · District / SELPA SPED budget

Priority High fit District applies

Source: Federal IDEA flow-through to LEAs and SELPAs; state admin via CDE.

Typical pilot envelope: $35k–$120k (1 school, 1 semester) · $120k–$350k multi-site · $350k+ district rollout (planning ranges on funding page).

Full pitch

IDEA funds may support specialized instructional materials, data systems, and professional development that improve FAPE delivery. PulsePoint provides: digital IEP goal alignment, progress monitoring artifacts, behavior support documentation, and PD for case managers on evidence collection. Emphasize compliance support (timely goal evidence, traceability) and teacher retention (less after-hours documentation). Procurement framing: run a Scenario A single-school pilot with written success criteria before scale.

Links

Oakland / OUSD & local philanthropy

Oakland Public Education Fund

Priority High fit (local) School / nonprofit partner

What: Philanthropy supporting OUSD schools — innovation, STEM, whole child (programs vary by year).

Full pitch

Request support for a Roosevelt / site-based PulsePoint pilot that documents SPED progress in inclusive classrooms, trains case managers on digital goal evidence, and produces quarterly reports for the site leadership team. Tie to OUSD goals: literacy, inclusion (LRE), and family engagement via printable progress summaries. Offer Ed Fund program officers a funding-gate walkthrough and sandbox demo on :13002 without exposing production FERPA data.

oaklandedfund.org

Principal’s Innovation Fund (PIF)

Site grant Medium fit Principal-led

What: Per-principal innovation dollars (often Salesforce-backed) for middle-grade sites in OUSD.

Full pitch

PIF can fund a one-semester PulsePoint pilot at a single campus: Chromebook student login, one SPED cohort, integer-division and ELA assignments with supports, and weekly principal data review from PulsePoint funding charts. Keep ask modest (devices already available; fund coach time, subs for PD, or part-time implementation support). Deliverables: teacher adoption %, progress rows/month, sample anonymized dashboard PDF for board presentation.

Oakland Ed Fund — PIF

#OaklandUndivided

Connectivity Tangential

Full pitch

Use only if bundling device access + digital literacy with SPED software access. PulsePoint is not a connectivity program; mention as part of a broader digital equity narrative if students lack home access for practice assignments.

oaklandundivided.org

Federal · IES / ED Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)

ED / IES SBIR — Phase IA, IB, Direct to Phase II

R&D High fit (if LLC) For-profit small business

Amount: ~$250k (Phase I, 9 months) · up to ~$1M (Direct to Phase II, 2 years) — verify current solicitation.

Deadline: Check annual solicitation (often mid-year); white paper then invited full proposal.

Full pitch

PulsePoint will develop and validate a special-education workflow and analytics platform that reduces teacher documentation burden while improving the quality of progress evidence for IEP teams. Phase I objectives: (1) refine progress-logging and goal-alignment UX with 3–5 case managers, (2) implement privacy-preserving aggregates for leadership dashboards, (3) conduct a small quasi-experimental study on time-to-evidence and teacher-reported usability. Innovation: unified SPED + standards assignment supports + optional AI-drafted growth notes with mandatory human review. Commercialization path: district SaaS pilots in California LEAs.

Links

Federal · OSERS / OSEP (Educational Technology, Media & Materials)

84.327R — Development of innovative technology tools

Field-initiated Medium (consortium)

Full pitch

Partner with a university and SELPA to field-test PulsePoint as an innovative progress-monitoring and accommodation-delivery environment for students with disabilities under IDEA Part B. Emphasize transition-age and high-support-needs priorities only if you have matching features; otherwise focus on PK–12 progress evidence and inclusive settings.

ED — EdTech for individuals with disabilities

84.327S — Stepping-up technology implementation

Implementation Medium

Full pitch

After evidence base exists, position PulsePoint for an implementation grant to scale reading or standards outcomes in PK–12 SPED settings. Requires established effect data—plan SBIR or district pilot first.

84.327F — National center (faculty capacity)

National center Low (vendor role)

Full pitch

Unlikely as prime for PulsePoint; possible as a technology partner on a university-led center preparing SPED faculty to use AI and AT in personnel preparation.

84.327N — National center for accessible education videos

FY 2026 competition Low fit

Note: Captioning/video focus — not core PulsePoint unless expanding media accessibility.

Simpler.Grants.gov — search ALN 84.327

California state grants

Digital Divide Grant Program (Round 3, 2025–26)

CBO + school Low–medium

Amount: ~$200k total round ($100k school; $50k×2 CBO) — verify portal.

Window: Was Dec 2025 – Feb 2026 — check for new rounds.

Full pitch

Frame PulsePoint as part of a digital skills + SPED access partnership: CBO provides literacy/mentoring; school provides roster; PulsePoint documents instructional access and progress for students with IEPs who lack home broadband—complement with device lending narrative.

California Grants Portal — Digital Divide

California Education Learning Lab — AI Challenge

AI / HE Medium (if AI narrative)

Full pitch

Position PulsePoint’s human-in-the-loop AI growth notes and ethical guardrails (staff review only, audit logging) as responsible AI for educators serving students with disabilities. Stress FERPA-aware design and demo/production separation.

California Grants Portal — AI Challenge

Voice Options Program (2026–2029)

Assistive tech Low (unless AT comms)

Deadline (reported): March 18, 2026 — verify.

Full pitch

Only if PulsePoint expands communication/AAC partnerships. Core platform is progress/IEP workflow, not speech-generating devices.

California Grants Portal — Voice Options

Supporting Inclusive Practices (SIP)

CDE High (via LEA)

Full pitch

SIP increases LRE and inclusive practices. PulsePoint documents shared instruction and accommodations when SPED students are in gen-ed settings—give SELPA leads dashboard proof of service delivery and standards exposure.

CDE funding profile — SIP

Supporting Innovative Practices Preschool (SIPP)

Preschool Medium (if Pre-K roster)

Full pitch

Extend master pitch to preschool IEP goal tracking and family-ready progress summaries for 3–5 year olds served in inclusive preschool classrooms.

CDE funding profile — SIPP

Project Cal-Well (mental health)

MTSS / wellness Medium

Full pitch

PulsePoint behavior incidents are framed as support load and MTSS documentation, not diagnostic labels. Pair with Cal-Well by showing how schools capture tiered supports, counselor referrals, and progress toward SEL goals—without replacing licensed mental health services.

CDE funding profile — Cal-Well

CYBHI — School-linked partnership grants

Behavioral health Medium

Full pitch

Align PulsePoint with school-linked behavioral health: document referrals, interventions, and progress while integrating with county CYBHI initiatives. Emphasize data for care coordination, not clinical treatment within the app.

CYBHI school-linked grants

California Advanced Services Fund — Broadband adoption

CPUC Low

Digital literacy / access — tangential unless paired with connectivity project.

Grants.ca.gov — Education category

Philanthropy & venture

NewSchools Venture Fund — Ignite Special Education Challenge

Edtech VC High (SPED focus)

Historical range: $50k–$150k awards; program cycles vary — check site.

Full pitch

PulsePoint addresses four Ignite themes: accessible rigorous content via assignment supports; collaboration across gen-ed and SPED; executive functioning through structured workflows and check-ins; data empowerment via funding dashboards and family-printable summaries. Seek field testing in OUSD with WestEd-style research partnership and six-month iteration cycle.

Application checklist

  • Confirm applicant type (teacher, LLC, nonprofit, district).
  • Copy master pitch; customize “outcomes” bullets to funder priorities.
  • Attach funding dashboard PDF or live walkthrough (passcode: tunson).
  • Offer sandbox demo :13002 — not production FERPA data.
  • Include Grafana district demo link for IT/operations reviewers.
  • FERPA one-pager: who accesses data, demo vs live, retention (draft if needed).
  • Letters of support: SPED director, principal, SELPA (as applicable).
  • Budget: Scenario A pilot line items (PD, implementation, support).
  • Verify deadline on official portal 48 hours before submission.

Portal links (bookmark)

PulsePoint grants index — for internal district shopping and grant planning. Pair with funding.html metrics and user guide for demo URLs.