25 Systems Funded to Join National Initiative of Innovative, Higher-Paid Roles Proven to Increase Learning
February 3, 2026, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—With state funding in New Mexico and North Carolina and private funding in Oklahoma, 25 school systems will join the national Opportunity Culture® initiative in 2026, extending the reach of excellent teaching to more students, for more pay, within regular budgets. The initiative’s designs have boosted student learning and reduced vacancies nationally.
In Oklahoma, applications are being accepted now for 16 school systems to receive support for innovative staffing redesign and professional learning for educators in new roles. Up to eight systems will begin planning their redesign, using proven Opportunity Culture models that fit district priorities, as early as February to implement in the 2026–27 school year, and the remainder will design this fall. The Oklahoma Public School Resource Center is conducting extensive outreach to school districts and charter networks statewide to encourage them to apply to Public Impact, founder of the Opportunity Culture initiative. Public Impact anticipates collaborating with many partner organizations to mesh this work with ongoing efforts in the state. A private philanthropy is funding the design work as well as an evaluation of the effect on student learning and teacher vacancies in Oklahoma.
In New Mexico, state leaders appropriated three years of funding for innovative staffing redesign to increase educator satisfaction and student learning. The Opportunity Culture initiative received the contract to support up to seven school systems in planning their redesigns. That includes Carlsbad Municipal Schools, which in 2023 became the first New Mexico system to use these models in three schools, leading to reduced teacher vacancies and increased student learning; the models will be in use in all its traditional schools by the 2026–27 school year. The state is also rolling out high-quality instructional materials and methods in some of the same schools, and funding will support evaluation of all sites’ outcomes.
In North Carolina, the Alamance-Burlington and Mooresville districts received state advanced teaching roles grants to plan their Opportunity Culture designs, joining 25 other districts, and more than 300 schools, already using the designs in the state. This grant program, now part of the state’s recurring budget, was created after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) worked with Public Impact to become the first in the nation to use the designs in 2013–14. Its initial pilot was funded by local philanthropists and the district’s own investment. The state grant program has enjoyed consistent bipartisan support, increased pay for thousands of educators, and achieved strong schoolwide learning results overall.
Nationally, Public Impact expects more systems to join in 2026, and several other states are considering similar efforts.