Within Washington, OSPI is the "Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction" and works with Washington's public school system to assure that the public education system prepares students for postsecondary pathways, careers, and civic education.

OSPI has a FIRST education grant which you can apply for to monetarily assist your team. The way the grant works is that OSPI has a pool of funds it gives to FIRST teams who apply. Teams then send in their application and OSPI will then review and distribute the funds accordingly. This grant can be used to pay your mentors and fund your team!

Unfortunately, this grant is very difficult to sign up for. We're working on a video with instructions to sign up which will hopefully be up shortly.

State Level: 

Sign up and attend FIRST Legislative day! FIRST Legislative day is a day dedicated to a discussion between FIRST teams and the Legislatures about the funds given to OSPI. 

The more money allocated to OSPI, the greater the grants they can give to support teams. 

Taking up to 2 mentors and 2 students, FIRST Legislative day:

• • Invites Legislators to learn about FIRST

  • Invites District Legislators and FIRST robotics throughout the different programs.

  • Allows teams to attend by signing up:

Teams typically will bring their robots to show firsthand what students in robotics can accomplish and is an open conversation about funding. 

To sign up for FIRST Legislative day email FIRST WA requesting your attendance. There is limited attendance but it's free so we highly recommend signing up if you can!

Attending FIRST Legislative Day is an incredible experience and we highly recommend you attend. It empowers your voices as students and creates a connection with your district Legislators which then can be influential in your future lobbying pursuits. 

To encourage FIRST to be more active during this day please send this email to Kevin Ross from FIRST to encourage FIRST's support. 

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