Federal grant programs / Department of Education

Teacher and School Leader Incentive Grants (formerly the Teacher Incentive Fund) (84.374)

Also known as (TSL)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$462 million
• Grant awards60
• Typical award$7.0 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$1.8 million
• Size rank389 of 1824
• Type of assistanceProject grants

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $175 million in fiscal 2021 to $1.8 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 389th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 72% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 22 states and territories.

What the program funds

To help eligible entities develop, implement, improve, or expand human capital management systems or performance-based compensation systems for teachers, principals, or other school leaders in schools (and especially those in high-need schools) served by the grantees. NOTE: The program was authorized by P.L. 114-95, the ESEA, as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act. The provisions listed here reflect the requirements in that legislation, and are applicable to awards made with FY 2017 and subsequent year funds.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Eligible applicants are local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that are LEAs in their State; State educational agencies (SEAs) or other State agencies; the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE); and partnerships of (1) one or more LEAs, State agencies, or the BIE and, (2) and at least one nonprofit or for-profit entity. An LEA may receive a grant, whether individually or as part of a partnership, only twice.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Grantees may use funds for a wide variety of activities designed to develop, implement, improve, or expand human capital management systems or performance-based compensation systems, including (1) developing or improving evaluation and support systems that are based in part on demonstrated improvement in student achievement; (2) conducting outreach to gain information on how to construct evaluation and support systems; (3) providing principals or other school leaders with the tools needed to make effective school-level decisions, including budgetary, scheduling, and staffing decisions; (4) implementing, as part of a performance-based compensation system, a differentiated salary structure for teachers or leaders in high need schools or high-need subjects who raise student academic achievement or take on additional leadership responsibilities; (5) improving LEA processes for recruiting, selecting, placing, supporting, and retaining effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders in high-need schools; and (6) instituting career advancement opportunities that reward effective teachers, principals, or other school leaders in high-need schools and enable them to expand their leadership results. Grantees must use these funds to carry out the activities described in their approved project applications.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Each grantee must provide, from non-Federal sources, an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount of the grant (in cash or in kind). Federal grant funds must be used to supplement, and not supplant, other Federal or State funds that would otherwise be used for authorized program activities.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

FY 23. Range of new awards: $372,204 to $8,437,681. Average size of new awards: $3,263,952. Number of new awards: 29. FY 24. Range of awards: $156,018 to $4,002,873. Average size of award: $1,539,892.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 66% of the money, nonprofits 25% and colleges and universities 5.0%.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.