Current K-12 public school teachers who are considering obtaining an additional endorsement in computer science should strongly consider getting $3000 through the Educator Retooling Conditional Scholarship at https://wsac.wa.gov/teachers.
This $3000 scholarship is paid directly to the teacher so even if the teacher does not actually spend $3000 to get the computer science endorsement the teacher can still receive $3000 for their efforts. However, the teacher must obtain the computer science endorsement within one year of receiving the scholarship and continue to teach at a K-12 public school in Washington for two years or will need to repay the scholarship award.
As part of the application, teachers will need to obtain a school administrator's support through their signature on the attached template and fill out either a WAFSA or FAFSA. On the Pathway tab, indicate Computer Science as the endorsement, indicate Endorsement test only as the pathway, and indicate Greater than $3000 as the program cost no matter what the actual personal financial outlay to obtain the endorsement is. Teachers at the STEP CS program at UW will still want to put completion of an add-on endorsement program at a college or university as their pathway.
The verbiage explaining the Educator Retooling Conditional Scholarship is somewhat confusing and at times contradictory. If you have any questions about this scholarship including assistance with the application, please feel free to contact csta.pugetsound@gmail.com. (or comment on this post) I personally would like to see as many teachers as possible take advantage of this opportunity.
------------------------------
Lawrence Tanimoto
Treasurer, CSTA Puget Sound (WA)
Bellevue, WA
K-12 Teacher (retired)
------------------------------