Hamilton County Teacher Residency Program Faces Sudden $400,000 cut via DOGE

By Mason Edwards, The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Staff photo / Catherine Casselman, a second grade teacher at East Side Elementary School, asks questions in 2019 to students during a book club meeting. Casselman is a graduate of the Public Education Foundation's Project Inspire teaching residency.

In a single afternoon, Project Inspire lost a little under half of its funding — and with it, a pipeline that has placed more than 150 educators in high-need Hamilton County classrooms since 2011.

On April 29, the Public Education Foundation received four hours' notice that its AmeriCorps funding — roughly $400,000 for this year — would be terminated.

"We were told at 1 o'clock that our program was being terminated as of 5 o'clock," foundation President Dan Challener said.

Project Inspire pairs candidates with veteran teachers for a yearlong residency while they earn a master's degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The AmeriCorps support, which was a $22,000 living allowance for each of the 18 residents, allowed participants to train full-time without outside employment.

"It's the money that keeps food on the table while they're doing this really hard year," Challener said.

The defunding came amid sweeping changes at the federal level. The Department of Government Efficiency terminated support for more than 1,000 AmeriCorps programs nationwide. The department, known as DOGE, has been run by billionaire Elon Musk as President Donald Trump seeks to bring efficiency to the federal government.

Despite the loss, the program is not shutting down. Cohort 15 — the incoming class — signed on May 1, and Challener said the group's experience will be "extraordinary." Every member of Cohort 14, the outgoing class, is set to graduate this summer and has been hired to begin teaching in Hamilton County Schools this August.

"We'll make it happen," Challener said. "The program may change a little bit, but we'll make it happen."

Cohort 16 is still planned, he confirmed. The foundation is working with local partners and funders to create a new financial model, with more details expected in the coming weeks.

For current and former Project Inspire residents, the news was bittersweet.

Blake Baggott, a Cohort 12 graduate, said the AmeriCorps living allowance was essential to completing the residency. The yearlong classroom mentorship, he said, offered training far more in-depth than other fast-track certification programs.

"That was invaluable for me, as someone who was learning to be a teacher," he said in a phone interview.

While disappointed by the federal cuts, Baggott said he was relieved the program would continue.

"I'm a teacher today because of Public Education Foundation and Project Inspire," he wrote on social media. "It's an absolute shame that organizations making a real difference are being slashed because they don't fit a billionaire's idea of 'efficient.'"

Marsha Drake, chief equity officer for Hamilton County Schools, called the loss of funding "heartbreaking" and a "tragedy."

"Project Inspire brought in teachers of color, teachers with diverse life and work experiences," Drake said in a phone interview. "That gives a greater understanding of our students. That will, in a sense, be lost."

Drake, who entered education through an alternative certification program, emphasized the power of shared lived experience in the classroom.

"It helps students feel safe to speak, to express themselves, to see themselves reflected in their teachers," she added.

Some celebrated the news of the funding cuts online.

Patrick Hampton, a conservative Chattanooga activist and former educator, said the program should be privately funded rather than supported with federal tax dollars.

"What they are not telling you is that PEF used some of these funds to recruit teachers of color ONLY," Hampton wrote on social media. "Black people are not disabled or handicapped. We can participate and compete with everyone else without special advantages."

In a phone interview, Hampton said he believes such recruitment efforts, while well-intentioned, are misguided.

"Being Black myself and a former educator in Hamilton County Schools, I actually take (race-based programs) as an insult," he said. "They only promote race-based and skin color diversity. I've never heard them say, 'Well, white kids perform better with white teachers.' Our kids need diversity of thought, not just skin tones in front of them."

Challener rejected that framing.

"This is a selective program," he said. "What we especially look for is belief in the potential of young people. ... Many of the skills we can teach, but it's the belief system ... that is really important."

He noted that Project Inspire recruits nationally and locally and does not intentionally consider race. For the upcoming year, he expects about 50% of residents will be people of color.

"We're committed to excellence," he said. If people "want to put labels on it, so be it, but our mission is around making sure that every child has a great teacher in every school."

For Challener, the stakes go beyond Chattanooga.

"In Tennessee, you can argue about the numbers, but there's absolutely a shortage of great teachers," he said.

Over the past three years, Hamilton County Schools has named Project Inspire alumni as its districtwide elementary, middle, and high school teachers of the year, according to a written statement attributed to Challener. Last year, one was selected as Tennessee's novice teacher of the year.

"The investment, if you're just measuring it against one year, it's a terrific investment," he added. "But if you are thinking about their impact over five and 10 and 15 and 20 years, and think about the return on that — I mean, these are not people who would've gone into teaching ... and they answer that calling."

While AmeriCorps funding made up a little under half of Project Inspire's budget, Challener said the rest has come from local foundations and public partnerships. Discussions are already underway with the Lyndhurst Foundation, Hamilton County Schools and the University of Tennessee in the hopes of securing future support.

"This is primarily privately funded program — but it's a really good investment, and it's not going away," Challener said. "You really find out who your great friends are when something like this happens."