government services blog
by Chris Riso
6/17/25 Have Teachers Sign MST/STEM Grant & AMTS Art/Music Grant Attestation
7/14/25 Register for the 8/12-8/13 “Principals Institute” in Syracuse
ASAP Diocesan & Regional School Finance Reports due to Fr. Steve
TBA NYSED Nonpublic Safety Equipment (NPSE) Claims Due
TBA NYSED Elementary School AIS Claims Due
8/1/25 NYSED MST/STEM Grant & AMTS Art/Music Grant Submission Deadline
8/1/25 2025-26 Government Programs Checklist: Click here for End of Year List
8/29/25 Update your School Safety Plan
Government Programs Checklist for 2024-2025: Since there will be no “Leading with Faith” newsletters in July, please see my updated “Government Programs Checklist for Principals” for 2025-2026. Consider posting this list in your office or saving a copy to your computer to help you stay on top of important deadlines for 2025-26.
MST and AMTS Grant Update; Get Teacher Signatures Now: NYSED still has not released the MST (Math, Science, Technology) Year 8 and AMTS (Art, Music) Year 2 forms. Even so, we have been encouraged to still begin preparing the paperwork needed for your applications (see my 2023-24 MST application advice here - AMTS uses the same application process). If you have not already done so, my recommendation is that you have qualified teachers sign the Teacher Attestation form before their last day (have one attestation for MST and another for AMTS). ORISS shared the following with me last month: “The MST guidance and requirements for this year’s cycle will be similar to what is currently available on the website and can be used to prepare the necessary data and materials for the August 1, 2025 deadline. We do not anticipate any significant changes to the MST/AMTS grant process with regard to the guidelines and requirements. However, the submission format will be updated with current year forms and improvements to the portal application and the updated formats should be used for submission, once available. The exception to this is the Teacher Attestation form. The currently available form can be used to collect signatures now, prior to the end of the year.” (Link: Teacher Attestation) Remember, In Year 6, our WNY Catholic Schools received just over $3.5 million in MST reimbursement (43.1075% of what was submitted), with the 21 participating elementary schools averaging almost $73,500 in reimbursement while the 10 participating high schools averaged just over $200,000 in reimbursement (median of $140,220). With another increase in funding to the MST Grant program in last year’s NYS Budget, I highly recommend that you apply for this grant if you have any qualified teachers. We are still awaiting numbers on the AMTS Year 1 claims; they will be much lower since the program is much smaller.
Register for the August 12-13 Principals Institute (Syracuse): Yesterday I sent the school principals a reminder about the upcoming Principals Institute for Upstate and WNY Catholic School Leaders on August 12th and 13th, 2025 at the Doubletree Carrier Circle in East Syracuse. As of today, we have 7 people from our Diocese registered to attend – Joleen, Julie, and me along with four principals. If you can attend this affordable summer conference/retreat, please register today. See my 6/16/25 email for the registration link and conference information.
School Safety Plan Update Requested: For those schools going through the Middle States Accreditation process, school safety is a high priority when your school is visited. If your crisis management plan has not been updated recently, I would encourage you to arrange some summer meetings for your school safety/emergency management team to update or convert your emergency plan to a “School Safety Plan” before school begins next fall, or soon after it begins. You can find resources on my School Safety Plan webpage. Note: you may recall that public schools were required to implement updated protocols in 2024-25, so you may want to consider adopting some or all of them if you wish; consider these to be best-practices for possible adoption at your school. For more ideas to consider while working on your school safety plan, see https://www.nyscfss.org/safety-plans.
Records Retention List: As the year draws to a close, you may want to think about destroying some of the records you have been retaining from prior school years. Please refer to this updated NYSED list of records that must be retained and the number of years you must keep them before you securely destroy them.
