Short answer: decide what you are teaching, size the fleet at about three students per drone, fund it through Perkins V or a grant, then check what your state requires. FTW Robotics supplies the full program, Hopper, a classroom drone designed and made in San Diego, and the Build Fly Code curriculum.
Most school drone programs run as a CTE or STEM pathway, and they are built in the same order as any other. Decide what you are teaching first, because everything else is sized to that answer. The fleet sizes to the room next, and after that comes funding, what your state requires, and whether the program carries a credential.
Everything else on this list is sized to this answer, so it comes first. The why is not a philosophy, it is a job board. The sector hires for engineering and operations: across 558 open roles at four US drone companies in September 2026, twelve required an FAA Part 107 certificate and all twelve were flying jobs. A program built around the certificate points students at two percent of the work. What employers ask for instead is an aircraft students build and repair, hand tools and documented work, reading engineering drawings, code that moves the machine, a test and troubleshoot loop, real mission data, and airspace and weather as working knowledge. What a drone program should teach has all seven, with the job postings each one came from. Part 107 is still worth offering to juniors and seniors who want it, and it is not what the program is built toward.
Once you know what you are teaching, the fleet sizes to the room. Two to four students per drone, averaging three. Add one aircraft for the instructor and one or two spares so a damaged drone does not stop the lesson. Ten students is five or six drones. Thirty students is twelve or thirteen. Sizing to the room is what keeps a program inside its budget, because the fleet count drives everything after it.
Perkins V is the most common source for a CTE-aligned program, and district and state grants cover much of the rest. How Perkins V applies to a drone program covers which uses qualify. What a program costs has the line-by-line numbers for a first fleet.
Several states set rules on what drones a public agency may buy, and school districts are inside those definitions. The tests are usually about where the manufacturer is domiciled rather than about the aircraft. Florida's requirements for schools is the worked example.
A fleet without a sequence becomes a demo. Build Fly Code is built as a ladder from fifth grade upward, so the first semester has a defined start and end rather than a box of drones and an open period.
Ten for the students, on the two-to-four-per-drone ratio, plus one for the instructor and one or two spares. Twelve or thirteen aircraft covers a class of thirty.
The Build Fly Code curriculum spans fifth grade through post-secondary. Middle school is the most common entry point, and elementary programs run at the introductory end of the sequence.
Indoor flight sits outside FAA airspace rules, so an indoor classroom program does not require it. Programs that intend to fly outdoors should look at TRUST, the FAA's recreational safety test, which is free and administered by several FAA-approved organizations.
Yes. FAA Part 107 is a real federal credential, it can be verified outside the school, and several states already fund it as an industry certification. The minimum age is sixteen under 14 CFR 107.61, so it lands in eleventh and twelfth grade for students who want it. It is worth offering and it is not what the rest of the program is building toward, since almost no drone industry role requires it. The earlier grades build the engineering, coding and airspace knowledge that employers do ask for. TRUST, the FAA's Recreational UAS Safety Test, comes up in the same conversation and is a different thing. It is free, has no age minimum, never expires and cannot be failed, but it is a safety acknowledgment rather than a credential, so it is not something a student earns and carries into a job application. It also applies only to flying outdoors.
A club is the smaller version of the same five decisions, and it is the usual way in. Ten students needs five or six drones on the two-to-four-per-drone ratio, plus one for the instructor and a spare. The part clubs get wrong more often than classes is the sequence: a club meets less often, so without a defined start and end a box of drones becomes a demo. Build Fly Code runs as a ladder, so a club can follow the same sequence a course does at its own pace.
Yes, and middle school is the most common entry point. The Build Fly Code curriculum spans fifth grade through post-secondary, and Hopper Quest is built for that band. One thing to plan around: FAA Part 107 has a minimum age of sixteen under 14 CFR 107.61, so the credential itself lands in eleventh and twelfth grade. Middle school programs build toward it through coursework and competition.
A full breakdown of what a drone program actually costs a school: drones, curriculum, replacement parts, and the recurring costs most budgets miss. Written for the person who has to defend the number.
Read the cost breakdown →What to look for in a classroom drone: programmability, repairability, NDAA Section 889 compliance, and whether the curriculum goes anywhere after the first flight.
Compare classroom drones →How Perkins V applies to CTE drone programs, which spending categories fit, and how to position a purchase so it survives review.
See how Perkins V applies →Both drones went end of life and left programs stranded. What to move to, what happens to your existing lessons, and how to avoid the same thing happening again.
Read the replacement guide →The December 2025 FCC ruling and ASDA changed what federal funds can buy and what can still enter the US market. Three questions that separate a program you can keep from one that strands you.
Read the three questions →What s. 934.50(7), F.S. and Rule 60GG-2.0075 require of a district buying drones for classroom instruction.
Read the Florida requirements →Chromebooks, iPads, browsers and Bluetooth, plus whether students need their own accounts (the answer is no). The answers your IT team will ask for.
Check the requirements →The three federal rules that reach a district’s drone purchase: Section 889, the American Security Drone Act at FAR 52.240-1, and the FCC Covered List addition of December 22, 2025. What each one does, and what it does not do.
Read the compliance guide →Three complete Build Fly Code lessons, free with no form, plus what the FAA publishes for nothing and what none of it replaces.
See the free lessons →Tell us about your program and we will research local, state and national grant opportunities specific to your situation and share our findings with you directly.
We will review your submission and respond directly. No automated replies.
Hopper Firmware 2.0 is here. A brand new sensor fusion and flight stability algorithm delivers decisively better flight.
Hopper holds position better, responds more precisely, and handles rough landings without drama. Crash detection was rebuilt, so a normal landing no longer leaves the drone unable to take off again.
Every Hopper gets it. Free. It loads onto drones already in the field through the FTW Fly app in a few minutes. Nothing to buy, nothing to ship back, no new hardware.
That is possible because FTW owns its entire flight control and telemetry stack. American built, wholly owned, zero outside dependency. When the software gets better, the drones already in your classroom get better with it.
Watch the walkthrough, then open FTW Fly and update yours.