PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Date: 10/12/2022

Contact: TMSA PR & Communications Coordinator Mehdi Mustafa - 919 650 2270 - [email protected]

TMSA TEACHERS RECEIVE A 10% RAISE AND A $5K BONUS

Cary, NC - TMSA Public Charter Schools Superintendent Ben Karaduman gave the good news during Tuesday’s board meeting that TMSA teachers and full-time employees will receive a 10% pay increase and a $5,000 one-time bonus for the 2022-2023 school year.

“We are so excited to share this great news with the TMSA employees and community,” said Superintendent Karaduman. “We have received more revenue than we planned for this year from the State of North Carolina and the counties we operate in. Although we obtain less funding than the traditional public schools, we want to ensure that all TMSA personnel, both new and existing, earn a competitive salary and provide our students with an excellent education.”

TMSA employees receive an automatic 3% annual raise to their base salaries every year. Last June, the TMSA Board approved the 2022-2023 recruitment and retention plan that proposed an additional 3% raise along with a conditional 4% and a $5,000 one-time bonus, depending on the annual revenue the schools would receive from the state and the counties. TMSA also has a retention incentive program rewarding employees for every five years of full employment with a bonus starting with 5% up to %20 of their base salaries, depending on the years of service.

With this 10% increase in total, full-time newly certified teachers will receive more than $49,000 this school year - almost $5,000 more on average than their counterparts in the surrounding public schools. TMSA’s certified teacher base salary has increased by nearly 24% since 2018.

Non-certified teachers may start their teaching career at TMSA with more than $42,000, along with TMSA’s first-class teaching license support program and tuition reimbursement for higher degrees in Education.

“Investing in teachers and technology is not an either-or proposition for us,” said TMSA Board President Dr. Terrence Thomas. “We take great pride in our cutting-edge facilities and high-tech classrooms, but all our technology would be quite useless without our dedicated and hardworking teachers of high caliber. We know that real learning happens only with effective and happy teachers.”

TMSA has recently opened a state-of-the-art K-8 facility for its newest school - The Math and Science Academy of Apex - TMSA Apex. The school is the first phase of TMSA’s $65M new campus project that will also host high-tech facilities for TMSA Triangle High School, which will be completed in Fall 2024. The 200,000-square-foot campus will feature a variety of advanced educational spaces, from classrooms, labs, and art studios to indoor and outdoor sports and academic areas, as well as a center geared towards community engagement.

TMSA is North Carolina’s growing network of high-performing nonprofit public charter schools focusing on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics). It has brought a dynamic of change to K-12 Education in the state and raised the bar for high-quality, tuition-free STEAM education. Its education model is based on Excellence in STEAM, Whole-Child Focus, and Inclusive Community. TMSA has more than 5,000 students waitlisted and serves more than 4,000 students on six campuses.

TMSA schools are renowned for challenging students with high academic standards through innovative instruction enhanced by a social-emotional and developmental support system. TMSA Triangle (Triangle Math and Science Academy in Cary, NC) has earned another “A” rating from the NC DPI for its 2021-2022 academic performance. The school is regarded as one of the best charter schools in the state. TMSA Triad (Triad Math and Science Academy in Greensboro, NC) has achieved the 3rd highest academic achievement in the county with a 93.6% growth rate.

The first TMSA school, TMSA Triad, was established in 2008 by a group of public charter school advocates who supported compelling, diverse, and well-funded public charter schools in North Carolina. As increasingly high demand exceeded the number of seats available, TMSA Triad was followed by TMSA Triangle in 2012. The newest TMSA school, TMSA Apex, has opened its doors this fall. Queen City STEM School, founded in Charlotte in 2015, joined the TMSA family last year as The Math and Science Academy of Charlotte - TMSA Charlotte.

TMSA (Triad Math and Science Academy Company) is a nonprofit charter school operator that only manages TMSA schools. It is neither a separate entity outside the TMSA organization nor entities like CMO (Charter Management Organization) or EMO (Education Management Organization) that provide managerial and back-office services to different charter schools for a management fee.

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