Teachers apply for grants to buy classroom pets. The grant for the 2026-2027 school year just opened.
Grants open for Pre-K through 12th grade
Pet Care Trust announced that its Pets in the Classroom grant program is now taking applications for the coming school year. The program gives money to teachers from Pre-K through 12th grade at both private and public schools in the United States and Canada. The funding covers the cost of bringing small animals into classrooms or keeping existing ones. Teachers can request store account grants that work at Petco, PetSmart, Pet Supplies Plus, and Petland. They can also get rebate grants for purchases at local shops or online specialty retailers. Teachers who received grants before can apply again for sustaining grants. The program started in 2010 and has given out more than 279,000 grants that reached roughly 11.1 million children, according to Pet Care Trust.
A channel that funnels funded teachers to stores
This isn't a niche education program. It's a channel that funnels teachers into stores with approved budgets. If you stock small animals, bedding, starter kits, or small animal food, you have a window where a specific, high-intent buyer walks in looking for guidance. The question is whether your staff knows the grant exists and can help close the sale.
The program has distributed hundreds of thousands of grants over the past 15 years. That translates to starter kits, habitat setups, and recurring small animal supply purchases. Melinda Thomas, executive director of Pet Care Trust, said education drives everything the program does. Research supports the classroom pet model: better school attendance, more empathy, stronger sense of responsibility. For retailers, the impact is simpler: this is a known traffic driver with a concrete prep window.
Predictable traffic you can staff for
For the store owner: If you carry small animals or starter kits, this is predictable traffic you can plan inventory and staffing around, but only if you know it's coming. Teachers are buying a full setup in one trip. That's habitat, bedding, food, water bottle, hideaway, maybe a book. If your staff doesn't know the grant exists, you're leaving margin on the table.
For the buyer: Teachers buying with grant funding are looking for guidance on what to buy. This is where you push better-margin starter bundles and private-label bedding and food. The program's website provides lesson plans and care resources, but it doesn't tell teachers which brands to buy. Stock your endcap with a curated classroom pet starter kit before applications convert to purchases, train your team to ask "are you setting up a classroom?" when someone buys a small animal, and you'll convert more of that traffic into repeat customers.
For the brand or DTC operator: Teachers are buying on recommendation. If your small animal SKU isn't in the retailer's staff pitch, you don't exist in this channel. The program lists participating big-box retailers, but it also explicitly supports rebate grants for local pet stores and online specialty retailers. That means if you're trying to win independent distribution for a small animal food, bedding, or habitat accessory, this is a concrete use case to lead with when you pitch a buyer. Frame it as "here's how to capture the classroom grant traffic" and you're solving a problem.