Principal Internship Stipend

Key Resources & Reference Documents

The MSA Legislative Internship Stipend Opportunity is informed by North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) session law. Please see below for live links to the relevant legislation to learn more. Additional fiscal guidance is outlined in the NC Salary Manual. 

  1.  SL 2019-60: TP3/Principal Fellows Consolidation 
  2. SL 2019-247: Teacher Step Act* (reference specifically SECTION 2.6.(c)) *Note: The language contained in SL 2019-247 is identical to the language contained in SL 2018-5: Appropriations Act (reference specifically SECTION 8.4(c)). 
  3. SL 2020-49: Education Omnibus (reference specifically Part VIII. Revise School Administrator Intern Stipend
  4. NCDPI Financial and Business Services  will maintain the current version of the North Carolina Employee Benefits and Salary Manual.  Click for a direct link to the 2020-2021 Salary Manual.  *Note: intern stipends are limited to compensation as defined in the teacher salary schedule as it appears in the salary manual. As interns are not employees of the PSU during their internship period, they are not entitled to any benefit or supplements that are not expressly provided for in the teacher salary schedule. PSUs may provide benefits to interns at their discretion and using local funds.

MSA Principal Stipend FAQs

What constitutes a candidate’s internship stipend eligibility (need all four)?

  1. The prospective MSA Intern is an active, matriculated, full-time student (see below for determining full-time status) in good standing within an approved MSA licensing area at their NC Approved EPP. The EPP maintains clinical oversight and contact with the MSA Intern throughout the entire 10-month experience to support quality training of the full-time student in their program. Supervisory services are not provided by NCDPI and should not solely be relied upon to be delivered by the LEAs. EPPs must remain available to provide continued support to the full-time student intern as appropriate to the EPPs training program.
  2. The EPP works with their prospective MSA Intern to secure a full-time supervised clinical internship that must be within an NC recognized public school unit (PSU) (i.e., LEA, charter school, laboratory school, or NCDPI residential school). Placements are not assigned by NCDPI.
  3. The EPP will ensure the MSA Intern completes a 10-month supervised clinical internship* (*Note: it is acknowledged that there may be some short breaks in the 10-months due to the PreK-12 school calendar (e.g., holidays), but the intention is for the 10-months to be mostly consecutive throughout an academic year).
  4. The MSA Intern may not be enrolled in a full time MSA program and at the same time work in a state funded position. A leave of absence will be required from a full-time position in a state funded position for the entirety of the 10-months while the Intern is completing the 10-month full-time MSA Legislative Internship.

What qualifies as ‘full time’ student?

The definition of full-time status is determined by each overarching institution in which the EPP is based. A candidate must maintain the equivalent of a year’s worth (two semesters) of their institution’s full-time status. NCDPI then uses transcripts of candidates to look for breaks in service, failed, withdrawn, or incomplete courses to verify full-time status is met and maintained to warrant the internship.

How much is the stipend?

The stipend is the higher of two calculations.

  1. For an educator who becomes an intern, the stipend that intern would receive is equivalent to what the educator would earn on the teacher salary schedule (as a classroom teacher) for the upcoming internship year.
  2. The salary of an AP with zero years of experience.

Process for Converting from an Intern to an AP during the Internship

At any time throughout their principal internship, a candidate could be asked to move into an AP position by the supporting LEA. When this transition occurs, it is the responsibility of the LEA, as the employer (not the EPP), to inform the Department of this change by submitting the MSA Intern/Employment Form. This acknowledgment is critical to transition salary funding away from the internship allotment and towards allotments the district has for the AP position.

Upon completion of the form, please send it to Andrew Sioberg at Andrew.Sioberg@dpi.nc.gov.