Teacher Innovation Grant Program

At the heart of all our county schools are the professional educators who teach our students each and every day of the school year. Not only is this a demanding profession, but with today’s new technological and related challenges, our teachers must be innovative, creative and equipped to deal with these and similar new advances in virtually every subject taught at all our OC Schools.

So how can the Orange County Education Foundation (OCEF) help provide our teachers the technical assistance and knowledge required to meet these new challenges? One answer is to help provide our teachers with the tools that the teachers tell us are needed to meet these new challenges. We at the OCEF say to our teachers: “You are the experts in your academic field. What additional resources do you need to more effectively educate our students about the subject you teach? What resources are you currently lacking?”

Our answer is to provide these needed resources through a special targeted grant program. This is a teacher driven program. Each year, all our OC teachers in every school are invited to apply for direct targeted grants that are made directly TO THE TEACHERS! We ask our teachers to apply in writing, tell us what they are trying to accomplish with the grant, the amount requested as well as the anticipated impact on the students participating in the program funded by the grant. All the grant applications are evaluated by a designated Committee and grant awards made.

The TIGs are “Subject Driven” so the actual grants will vary by subject type. Teachers teaching science usually ask for equipment and supplies to do in school experiments. Other teachers will want to take their students to external locations where the students can learn “Hands on!” Still other educators will want to sponsor in school plays while others will create in school learning projects aimed at specific subjects.

In other words, it’s up to the teachers! The educators tell us what they need, based on the different realities of each academic subject, and we help meet these new challenges with money grants made directly to our teachers. It’s a truly exciting time for our teachers and students!

2026 Teacher Innovation Grant Award Winners

2025 Teacher Innovation Grant Award Winners

2024 Teacher Innovation Grant Award Winners

2023 Teacher Innovation Grant Award Winners

2022 Teacher Innovation Grant Award Winners

2021 Teacher Innovation Grant Award Winners

Previous Winners of Teacher Innovation Grants

The Prize Patrol

• Each year, on a carefully guarded secret date, board members of the Orange County Education Foundation travel through the county delivering symbolic checks to teachers who have won Teacher Innovation Grants. Their arrival is always meant with surprise and joy by both teachers and students alike. This is referred to as “The Prize Patrol”. <View Video>

Orange County Education Foundation Fund for Innovative Teaching

The Orange County Education Foundation (OCEF) Fund for Innovative Teaching provides at least six grants to support creative instruction in Orange County Public Schools, Grymes Memorial School and at the Locust Grove Campus of Germanna Community College. The grants are awarded each spring to teachers who have proposed lessons that they will implement during the subsequent school year.

Ernestine Reid Teacher Innovation Grant Fund

The Ernestine Reid Teacher Innovation Grant Fund provides multiple annual grants to support creative instruction in Orange County Public Schools. The grants are awarded each spring to teachers who

Kathleen Ellington Hargett Fund for Library/Media Center Resources​

The Kathleen Ellington Hargett Fund for ​Library/Media Center Resources provides one annual grant of up to $500 to support creative library and media center programs in Orange County Public Schools. The grant is awarded each spring to a librarian or media specialist who has proposed a creative program that: (a.) encourages students to use library/media center resources; (b.) inspires students from all backgrounds to learn; and (c.) focuses library/media center resources on literacy achievement.

Paul Cogar Teacher Innovative Grant

The Paul Cogar Teacher Innovative Grant is designed to honor Mr. Cogar’s motto be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.