The Tulsa Teacher Effectiveness Initiative calls for TPS to develop a new evaluation process to measure teacher effectiveness, dismiss teachers found to be ineffective, and attract and retain high-quality teachers by raising the starting salary to $36,000 and offering incentives up to $24,000.

“I want to become a Gates partner because of the full weight of what they stand for, as well as their dollars, but I intend to lead this school district in that direction even if we are not chosen,” said Superintendent Keith Ballard. “I’m going to be scraping, begging and borrowing to put together the dollars to do this if I have to because we have spent too much time and had too much expert help on this to not follow through with this comprehensive plan.”

The Gates Foundation, which was established by the co-founder of Microsoft and his wife, announced in April that TPS was among 10 urban school districts in the running for five, five-year grants of up to $17 million each.

But the ante was recently upped, Ballard said.

“About half-way through the application process, I received a call saying, ‘Write the proposal to accomplish what you’re going to need to accomplish and don’t feel like you have to work within the constraints we initially gave you,’ so we’re leaving no stone unturned,” he said.

With the total five-year costs of the Tulsa Teacher Effectiveness Initiative estimated at nearly $87.9 million, TPS has enlisted local business leaders and philanthropists, such as the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, to donate $15 million. The district would reprioritize its budget to cover the remaining $17.3 million.

A decision about the final five districts is expected from the Gates Foundation by Aug. 17, although the details of the partnerships won’t be final until November.

Read the complete story in Sunday's World.