2026-27 NCCAT Honored Educator Scholarship Applications Open
Honored Educator Scholarships (HES) provide an opportunity for selected teachers to attend an NCCAT seminar of their choice. An HES covers all costs associated with participation in a NCCAT seminar, including program materials, instruction, food, lodging, transportation and a substitute teacher. The honored educator also receives $250 for use in the classroom.
Applications for the 2026-27 school year are due on Thursday, April 30.
Applications Now Open for 2026-27 NC Business Committee for Education (NCBCE) AI Fellows
Middle and High School Educators: Applications for the 2026-27 cohort of NCBCE AI Fellows are now open! Twenty outstanding middle and high school educators will be selected to serve as AI leaders and mentors in their school communities.
Selected Fellows will receive AI-related virtual and in-person trainings throughout the academic year, ongoing leadership support, a technology mini-grant and be among a strong community of like-minded educators.
Applicants may teach in any subject area. Learn more and apply here. The application closes May 15.
In Other News
EdNC - Sergio Osnaya-Prieto | April 15, 2026
BEST NC, a nonprofit business leader coalition focused on education, found that average teacher pay was $58,292 in 2023-24 and average starting pay was $40,136 in 2022-23. According to the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) latest “Highlights of the North Carolina Public School Budget” report, average teacher salaries as defined by the National Education Association — base salaries plus local supplemental pay — were $59,971 in 2026 and $60,323 in 2025. After including bonuses, the estimated average compensation for 2025-26 was 1% lower than 2024-25.
BEST NC report: “Teacher Pay in North Carolina: A Smart Investment in Student Achievement” estimated that 51,000 out of 101,775 teachers across the state did not earn a living wage in 2023-24.
U.S. Department of Education Press Release | April 8, 2026
On April 8, the Departments of Education (ED) and Labor (DOL) issued the Fiscal Year 2026 competitions for the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program and the Innovative Approaches to Literacy Program. These competitions represent efforts to align workforce and education programs, expand education freedom, and bolster educator effectiveness. Additional competitions will follow later this spring and summer. As ED and DOL deepen their partnership to better coordinate elementary and secondary education programs, awards for these competitions will be issued through DOL’s GrantSolutions, a grants management platform.
For more information visit each grant notice on grants.gov:
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Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) – IAL supports high-quality programs designed to develop and improve literacy skills for children and students from birth through 12th grade in high-need local educational agencies and schools.
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Teacher and School Leader Incentive (TSL) – TSL supports entities in implementing, improving, or expanding their Human Capital Management System, which must include a Performance-Based Compensation System.
K-12 Dive - Anna Merod | April 14, 2026
A new final rule details a broad set of AI initiatives that will be given more weight in the agency’s discretionary funding programs.
Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Education is continuing to push for artificial intelligence use in classrooms through newly finalized priorities and definitions for districts and colleges applying for any of the agency’s discretionary grant programs.
- The department’s final rule, issued Monday, said it will prioritize applications for projects that aim to expand the understanding of AI or the appropriate and ethical use of AI in education.
- Within those parameters, proposals that call for integrating AI literacy skills into teaching and learning practices that improve student outcomes will be given more weight, according to the rule.
K-12 Dive - Kara Arundel | April 15, 2026
The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal to Congress touts a “historic investment” into federally funded special education programs, including increased flexibility for states to make funding decisions and a renewed effort to reduce paperwork burdens for special educators and administrators.
What’s being proposed for increases
The spending proposal, released on April 3, calls for a total of $16 billion to support infants, toddlers, students and young adults with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. That’s a 3.5% increase from the FY 2026 allocation of $15.5 billion.
If approved by Congress, this would be the first increase for Part C since FY 2022.
The budget plan also calls for a renewed effort to increase state participation in an already established pilot program to reduce paperwork burdens for special educators.
What’s being proposed for decreases
Despite level or boosted funding for some programs, what’s concerning special education advocates is the Trump administration’s repeated recommendation from FY 26 to zero fund and consolidate two other IDEA programs in FY 27 — the National Activities programs, also known as IDEA Part D, and the Preschool Grants program for students with disabilities ages 3-5. Under the plan, those formula and competitive grant programs would be absorbed into Part B program.
Funding of a dedicated special education research program under the agency’s Institute of Education Sciences would drop from $64 million in FY 26 to a proposed $10 million in FY 27.
Overall, the Trump administration recommends $8.5 billion in cuts and consolidations across the Education Department for selected K-12 programs. Those are part of a 3% reduction in discretionary spending compared to FY 26 funding levels at the agency.
Under the plan, the entire Education Department staff would shrink to a proposed 1,909 full-time employees, down from 3,544 in FY 2025. Proposed staffing at the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigates disability and other discrimination complaints in K-12 schools and colleges, would shrink from 530 in FY 25 to 271 in FY 27.
For the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which includes the Office of Special Education Programs that monitors state’s and district’s compliance with IDEA, the number of full-time staff would be reduced from 163 in FY 25 to just 31 for FY 27.
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NCDPI Office of Government Affairs: Anne Murtha – Legislative Specialist
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