MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD), on Nov 13th, announced that $1 million in grants is available for the Teacher Training and Recruitment Grant program to train and recruit teachers where shortages are most prevalent in Wisconsin.

“Our educators work every day to do what’s best for our kids, and it’s vital we continue to recruit and train talented workers in our education workforce and address our statewide teacher retention problem,” said Gov. Evers. “This grant program will provide much-needed funding and bolster and strengthen our state’s educator pipeline to help ensure our kids, our schools, and our workforce have the support and resources they need to be successful.”

The grants, which cover two years of program costs, are available through DWD’s Expanded Wisconsin Fast Forward (WFF) program. Wisconsin nonprofit organizations can apply for up to $500,000 to recruit, train, and license teachers to meet the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s guidelines for serving qualifying school districts.

“All students in Wisconsin have the right to a top-notch education, and we’re investing in training teachers so that they can deliver high-quality education to fuel our workforce of the future,” said DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek. “Demographic shifts and other trends present challenges for some classrooms, and these grants help ensure that kids are not being left behind.”

The WFF program has funded two rounds of awards in 2020 and 2022 that benefited 10 schools’ efforts to train, recruit, and mentor educators.

Under the WFF program, the funds are only available to tax-exempt 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations. Applications are due by 3 p.m. CST on Mon., Dec. 16, 2024. For additional information or to download an application, please consult the Grant Program Announcement and related grant program materials available here. 

Having spent more than 30 years in public education himself, Gov. Evers has long supported and advocated for efforts to help recruit, retain, diversify, and bolster the state’s education workforce. Most recently, in his 2024 State of the State address, Gov. Evers announced the new teacher apprenticeship pilot program to help address issues in turnover and retention while also bolstering and strengthening the state’s educator pipeline by reducing barriers and encouraging more young people to enter the field. The apprenticeship model includes built-in mentorship during the program and will help new educators build networks of support and professional learning.

Additionally, Gov. Evers first proposed expanding funding for the WFF program in his 2019-21 biennial budget proposal, which would have provided $1.2 million over the biennium to triple the size of continuing grants to qualified teachers in high-poverty urban schools and double the size of the continuing grant for teachers at high-poverty schools throughout the state. The provision was rejected by the Republicans in the Legislature and removed from the final budget.

In 2022, Gov. Evers highlighted the GROW initiative to help bolster the education workforce through “grown your own” efforts, which was funded thanks to the governors’ Workforce Innovation Grant program. The GROW school districts, which include Cambridge, Lodi, Sauk Prairie, and Wisconsin Heights, used a Workforce Innovation Grant of up to $264,000 to create a pipeline of highly qualified teachers who want to work in their rural districts.

Building on this work, Gov. Evers’ 2023-25 budget proposal included more than $16 million over the biennium to address the teacher shortage plaguing schools across the state, including funding for “grow your own” initiatives and incentives for student teachers, including:

-- $5 million for grants to support “grow your own” educator programming, which may include providing current employees with funding to pursue additional higher education credits, licenses, or certifications, engaging with community organizations, and supporting student organizations with “future teacher” missions; and

-- $9.4 million to provide stipends to student teachers and interns, more than $2 million to provide stipends to teachers who agree to train and oversee student teachers or interns, and $50,000 for stipends to school library interns. 

Unfortunately, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature failed to include the governor’s proposals to bolster the state’s educator pipeline, among several other critical workforce initiatives, in the final 2023-25 budget.

According to a 2023 report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the average annual teacher turnover rate from 2009 to 2023 was 11.5 percent, reaching an alarming 15.8 percent in the 2022-23 school year. This includes both the highest levels of teachers moving between districts and leaving the profession altogether. The report found that both rural and city districts, districts with large populations of low-income students and students of color, and small school districts were the most impacted.