TPT furloughs staff working on ‘Skillsville,’ a Ready To Learn–funded program
TPT
"Skillsville" was in development with help from Ready To Learn funding.
TPT in St. Paul, Minn., has furloughed employees after its Ready To Learn grant awarded through the Department of Education was terminated.
The cuts affected the TPT-produced animated program Skillsville, formerly known as Mashopolis, which was awarded $4.6 million for the 2020–25 Ready To Learn grant cycle.
“Unfortunately, with the grant termination, all RTL-funded work on Skillsville had to stop, and the RTL team was placed on furlough while TPT explores the possibility of an appeal,” said TPT spokesperson Kelly Bigler in an email to Current. Bigler didn’t answer questions about how many employees were affected.
Momoko Hayakawa, who was leading the research and development of Skillsville, said in a post on LinkedIn that the furlough paused the production of the show’s 22 remaining episodes, which had all been written and recorded. The cuts also stopped work on creating digital games and community engagement projects.
“Not only does this impact furloughed staff, laid off animators, but also, thousands of children using this curricular program in schools, and thousands of children planning to attend free Skillsville summer camps, not to mention educators that no longer have a summer job,” she wrote.
Hayakawa added that “public media is under attack. Amazing people are losing their jobs and children are losing access to quality educational opportunities.” She declined further comment when reached by Current.
Hayakawa started working with TPT in 2017 as lead researcher for Hero Elementary, which received Ready To Learn funding in the 2015–20 grant cycle. Separately, the station received a $9 million bequest in 2021 to help fund STEM programs for children. Portions of the bequest supported Hero Elementary, SciGirls and Skillsville.
The Department of Education also notified CPB earlier this month that its 2020–25 Ready To Learn grant was terminated effective immediately. CPB subsequently informed PBS and 44 public media stations that receive Ready To Learn grants to stop their work.
Correction: An earlier version of this article said that TPT’s NSF grant was not renewed. It was terminated.
