Arizona’s superintendent of public instruction announced a new two‑year grant designed to expand the state’s registered teacher apprenticeship program and provide paid, on‑the‑job training for approximately 100 aspiring educators. The department will allocate $300,000 for the effort, which officials say could translate into roughly $3,000 in support per apprentice and will be directed toward wages and the cost of coursework required for certification.
Arizona schools chief speaks at a podium while unveiling a grant program to expand teacher apprenticeships.
The funding is intended to scale up the Arizona Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Program, a state initiative launched in 2025 under the superintendent’s office. The apprenticeship model allows individuals preparing for the classroom to earn pay while receiving hands‑on experience alongside veteran teachers and completing the coursework needed for formal certification. Program administrators said the grant will be routed through the National Center for Grow Your Own, a private nonprofit that partners with local communities to train and retain educators; the organization will use the funds to support apprentices’ pay and to underwrite tuition and training costs.
Officials framed the announcement as a targeted response to the staffing challenges that school systems across the state continue to confront. A department report released in 2025, described as the first official educator recruitment and retention assessment, found that more than 4,200 teacher positions were being filled by long‑term substitutes, student teachers, third‑party vendors or by teachers covering classes during their planning periods. Those figures have driven programmatic interest in alternative pathways that bring new teachers into classrooms while they complete certification requirements.
The same recruitment and retention report documented turnover and vacancy trends officials said the apprenticeship expansion seeks to address. More than 1,000 teachers left their positions after July 2025, a departure rate the department calculated at about 1.8% of all teachers in the 2025–26 school year, up from roughly 1.1% the previous year. At the same time, the proportion of classroom positions reported as unfilled fell slightly to about 2.4% in 2025–26 from 2.8% the prior year. Department leaders cited those numbers when outlining an array of strategies aimed at both bringing new educators into the profession and keeping them there.
The superintendent recounted the department’s earlier efforts to expand the teacher pipeline, saying the office began creating alternative certification routes in 2003 to bring individuals without traditional education backgrounds into classrooms. “We’ve added a lot of teachers that way, and we need them because we have a terrible teacher shortage in our state,” he said, pointing to classrooms staffed by substitutes who, he added, may lack full training. “A lot of students are taught by permanent substitutes who aren't properly trained to teach them.” In public remarks and in his recent State of Education address, he has urged lawmakers to consider raising teacher pay and increasing administrative support as part of a broader strategy to relieve shortages.
The superintendent also cited anecdotal feedback from classroom educators about reasons for leaving, telling listeners he had received a letter from a teacher in the Phoenix Union district who said she could name 40 colleagues who left the profession because of insufficient administrative support on discipline. That line of argument has been a central element of his public push for additional resources and programmatic responses intended to stabilize staffing.
Elementary students in a classroom; the new grant is intended to help ease teacher shortages that affect classrooms like this.
The timing of the grant also intersects with the superintendent’s campaign for re‑election. The newly announced apprenticeship funds come as he seeks another term in office, and his emphasis on recruitment and retention has featured prominently in his campaign messaging. His Republican opponent in the primary, the state treasurer, has advanced competing proposals focused on mentoring and support for early‑career teachers. The treasurer has proposed creation of a mentorship program and laid out plans to bolster retention at public events and debates earlier in the spring, including a May debate in which both candidates discussed teacher pay, mentoring and other strategies.
The superintendent has pointed to existing mentorship and support structures within his office’s portfolio, saying such programs are already in place. His challenger, however, has argued those efforts are insufficient and must be retooled. The exchange has underscored the political stakes attached to solutions for staffing shortages, with both candidates making teacher recruitment and retention central themes as they vie for the party nomination.
Officials said the new grant will be distributed over the coming two years and that school districts and community partners will be able to use the funds to offset apprentice wages and educational expenses as they expand cohorts of paid trainees. Program backers view the apprenticeship approach as a way to link classroom experience, mentorship by veteran teachers and the academic requirements of certification into a single pathway that can accelerate placement of qualified teachers into classrooms while providing compensation during training. The department plans to monitor the initiative’s rollout and measure whether the additional funding increases the number of apprentices who complete certification and enter long‑term teaching positions.
Supporters of apprenticeship and “grow your own” models maintain that allowing prospective teachers to work and study simultaneously helps districts recruit candidates who might not otherwise be able to afford an unpaid training period. The National Center for Grow Your Own, which will administer the grant funds, works with local communities on such efforts and will apply the money to wages and coursework that program participants need to finish certification requirements. School and state officials have said the investment represents an initial step, not a comprehensive solution, and have signaled that additional measures — including pay increases and administrative policy changes — are part of the broader strategy to address staffing pressures.
The department’s announcement capped months of internal analysis and public discussion about teacher workforce trends in the state. With turnover and substitute‑filled positions continuing to figure prominently in departmental reporting, officials said the apprenticeship expansion is one of several actions intended to strengthen the pipeline, increase the supply of qualified teachers and reduce reliance on temporary staffing arrangements. The grant’s backers say it will provide immediate, targeted support for trainees while the state considers longer‑term investments in salary and administrative changes to make teaching more sustainable and appealing as a career.
The superintendent’s office said it will provide additional details on application procedures and timelines for districts and community partners seeking to enroll apprentices once the grant distribution plan is finalized. The department and its nonprofit partner will track usage of the funds and the progress of participating apprentices as the two‑year program period moves forward.