RALEIGH —The U.S. Department of Education announced awards totaling close to $115 million to support 29 Teacher and School Leader (TSL) Incentive projects.
“Through Raise the Bar: Lead the World, the Department is supporting states and school districts to eliminate educator shortages in our nation’s schools,” per a U.S. Department of Education press release. “The TSL grants help districts to address educator shortages by supporting career advancement and teacher leadership opportunities, increasing compensation, and improving educator retention.”
“All students benefit from a diverse and well-supported educator workforce that can prepare them to lead. While all students benefit from diverse teachers, when students of color see their backgrounds and experiences reflected in their teachers, we see higher levels of academic achievement and student engagement in school, and more students aspiring to be teachers themselves one day,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “That’s why attracting, retaining, and supporting a diverse educator workforce is a top priority in our efforts to Raise the Bar for learning conditions in our schools.”
Three North Carolina School districts will be receiving some of the millions in funding.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will receive $2,826,328, Wake County Public Schools will get $4,579,709, and Montgomery County Schools will receive $8,269,050.
The fourth and the largest recipient of the TSL funding in North Carolina is not a school district.
The Innovation Project (TIP) will be getting $8,330,115.
TIP is an education non-profit that has kept its operations largely a secret while receiving millions in taxpayer money through membership dues paid by North Carolina public school districts.
North State Journal uncovered dues payments to TIP totaling almost $1.35 million that came from 21 districts and spanned the years 2017 through 2021.
Further investigation revealed an additional nine districts that made combined payments of $680,915 to TIP during the same period, bringing the overall total of taxpayer dollars flowing to TIP between 2017 and 2021 to $2,048,800.
Former Guilford County Public Schools Superintendent Sharon Contreras was named the CEO of TIP in January 2022.
Contrera’s former Chief of Staff Nora Carr had departed the district in August 2021 for a job at the Z. Smith Reynold Foundation, a left-leaning organization which provided TIP its start-up funding. Carr’s main role was overseeing all of the Foundation’s grantmaking.
In a related email obtained by North State Journal dated Nov. 24, 2021, former TIP CEO Joe Ableidinger announced to members that TIP had been approved for a ZSR “State-level Systemic Change” grant in the amount of “$300,000 for three years.”
The U.S. Department of Education award is not the first time TIP has received federal money.
TIP received two loans totaling $115,187 through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the pandemic. One was an ongoing loan of $60,940 and the other was for $54,247 with a status of “paid in full or forgiven.” Information for both loans lists just two applicable employees.
To date TIP has not responded to North State Journal’s repeated requests for more information about its operations, programs, funding, and staff.
