Arizona gets $300K to fight teacher shortage crisis | Arizona News

PHOENIX (KVOA) – Arizona is receiving grant money to expand a program aimed at bringing more teachers into classrooms across the state.

The Arizona Department of Education will receive $300,000 over two years from the National Center for Grow Your Own, according to Superintendent Tom Horne. The funds come from the Ascendium Education Group, a private nonprofit organization.

The money will support roughly 100 apprentices and mentor teachers statewide through an existing apprenticeship and mentoring program. The initiative addresses what officials describe as an ongoing teacher shortage crisis.

“This is excellent news because recruiting, training and supporting teachers is vital and the teacher shortage has reached catastrophic proportions,” Horne said. “These funds will be used to expand our already-robust efforts to help bring more teachers into the profession and retain those valuable educators currently in the classroom.”

Horne pointed to alternate pathways the department has created for people who didn’t attend education college but have content knowledge needed to teach. He also discussed additional measures needed to support educators beyond the grant funding.

“We must also continue to push for more help for educators by increasing teacher pay using State Land Trust funds with no new taxes, and ensuring school administrators support teachers on classroom discipline, the two major issues that teachers cite as reasons to leave the profession,” Horne said.

NCGYO will offer technical support to states and local partners involved in the program, according to the department. This includes support with apprenticeship program registration, grant design and implementation, sustainability planning, and quality assurance.

The project aims to increase the number of fully licensed teachers prepared through debt-free apprenticeship programs. It also seeks to build state-level infrastructure and policy systems that sustain programs beyond private funding while using the apprenticeship model to improve educator preparation quality and lower the cost of earning a teaching degree.