Green School Works Grants

Aerial view of school with solar panels on roof

MassCEC / High Performance Buildings / Funding / Green School Works Grants

The Challenge: Decarbonize Public Schools

Massachusetts’ approximately 1,800 public school buildings are responsible for about 880,000 metric tons of carbon every year. Electrifying and decarbonizing these buildings represents a significant opportunity for the state to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. However, with the increased costs of construction and competing capital needs, districts need additional resources for the installation and upgrades of clean energy infrastructure.

About Green School Works Grants

Green School Works grants provide K-12 public schools with funding to implement projects that improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, or mitigate the impacts of climate change. Up to 15% of an award's total funds can be used for project “soft costs,” such as design or project management.

Up to $19 million will be available to schools for this round of funding. Awards may range from $50,000 up to $5 million for projects with a larger scope that opt for a recoverable grant of at least $2 million. See Section 8 (Budget & Award Limits) of the RFP for details on recoverable grants.

Closed
Award Potential

$50,000-$5,000,000

Application Deadline

February 13, 2026 11:59 PM

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Questions? Contact

Funding Schedule

MassCEC expects to award all available funding in this round if we receive a sufficient volume of strong applications.

Process Step Timing

Request for Proposals released

December 1, 2025

Informational webinar

December 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM

Virtual office hours

Sign up via this form or email greenschools@masscec.com

Questions accepted by MassCEC via email to greenschools@masscec.com

December 1, 2025 through January 30, 2026, 11:59 PM

Questions with answers posted to MassCEC website

Rolling through February 6, 2026

Proposals due

February 13, 2026 11:59 PM

Interviews of applicants, as needed

February through April 2026

Notification of Award

May 2026

Who's Eligible

Schools must be public K-12 schools in Massachusetts and must have served a student population that is at least 40% low income in at least one of the last three school years (2023, 2024, or 2025). Applicants may review the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s data to verify eligibility. (To navigate to school-level data, click on “School” or “District” or “Collaborative” (as applicable) in the “Report Type” drop-down menu, followed by “View Report.”)

For projects involving multiple schools, each of the schools must individually meet the eligibility criteria. For projects involving more than three schools (e.g., solar panel installations through one contractor at multiple schools), MassCEC may make exceptions if a student population that is majority low income will benefit from the project. MassCEC will also consider projects that serve an entire school district if at least 40% of the students in the entire district were low income in at least one of the last three school years. Please refer to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for full details.

MassCEC encourages applicants with projects at various stages of planning or construction to respond to this RFP. When enrollment for Green School Works Technical Assistance opens in Spring 2025, eligible schools and districts applying for implementation grant funding may also enroll in that program.

 

Apply

Application Process

Please include in your application: 

  • Attachment A: Authorized Applicant Signature and Acceptance Form
  • Attachment B: Application Form, including relevant attachments and confirmation that Attachment C has been reviewed
  • Additional attachments, as available, including team member resumes, energy use data, capital assessments and/or project plans, drawings, or documents

Applicants with projects in early stages may not have all the information requested in Attachment B; they should provide as much information as is available. 

For projects involving multiple schools in a connected or coordinated effort, please submit a single application.

For separate projects at multiple schools or sites in your district, please submit a separate application for each project. 

The response to the RFP should be submitted via email to greenschools@masscec.com. “Green School Works Implementation RFP – [Applicant (i.e. school district) name]” must appear in the email subject line.

Application Materials

Green School Works Implementation Grants Webinar

MassCEC hosted a webinar on the Green School Works Implementation Grants on April 8, 2025. The webinar slides and recording provide an overview of the RFP and a Q&A.

Office Hours

MassCEC will host office hours at the following times:

  • April 9, 2025, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • April 15, 2025, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Advance sign up is required.

Additional time slots may be posted here based on demand. Please email greenschools@masscec.com if the times above do not work for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Eligibility

Private schools

Can a private school apply?

This funding is limited to public schools.

Eligible project types and costs

Is a fossil fuel powered technology eligible for grant funding?

No, we will not be funding technologies that are fossil fuel powered. However, if you are applying for Green School Works funding for a technology that uses electricity (e.g. a heat pump) and leaving fossil fuel powered technology as a back up, that is an eligible project. Please note this information in your narrative.

For the soft costs at 15% does that include overhead and profit on the construction project?

MassCEC does not consider the price to install or construct a project as part of the soft cost cap.

Multiple projects in one district

Can districts submit multiple proposals?

Yes, districts are able to submit multiple proposals.

FAQs continued...

2. Award rounds and levels

Will all the implementation money be awarded now or will there be other rounds of RFPs?

We are expecting to award all available funding in this round, but it will depend on the application pool.

3. Timeline

If awarded, when does the funding need to be spent by? When do projects need to be completed?

We don't have a firm deadline for when funding needs to be spent. MassCEC will prioritize projects that can begin construction within one year of contract signing and achieve project completion within three years of contract signing.

4. How to Apply

Who signs the application? The select board or the school?

Whoever has authority in your municipality or whoever is taking financial responsibility for the school (either the school district or the municipal leadership) will be accepted as the signatory.

Should we submit one grant application for our district for projects at four schools?

The district should submit one application if all four schools are involved in a connected or coordinated effort (e.g., the district proposes to install ASHPs in all four schools by the same contractor). If these are all separate projects, four separate proposals should be submitted.

Should I be doing 2 separate applications for different projects or one all encompassing?

If a project is a connected and/or coordinated multi-school effort, please submit one application. If there are separate projects at multiple schools or sites in your district, please submit separate applications for each project.

What is considered a connected/coordinated multi-school project? For example, if a municipality is pursuing the same measure at multiple school buildings, like ventilation upgrades, could that be submitted under one application or should it be multiple applications for each school?

It seems this could be co-delivered by the same designer and contractor. If that’s the case, it would make sense to combine them under one application.

MassCEC / High Performance Buildings / Funding / Green School Works Grants

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