Arizona receives $300K grant to address teacher shortage
June 13
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) received a $300,000 grant to address the state’s ongoing teacher shortage.
Since July 2025, more than 1,000 Arizona teachers have fled the profession citing low pay and lack of administrative support as a couple of the reasons for leaving the profession, according to ADE. Additionally, there are more than 4,000 vacant teacher positions that are filled by either long-term substitutes or are not filled at all.
The funding will go toward existing teacher apprenticeship and mentoring programs. The grant came from the National Center for Grow Your Own (NCGYO), a nonprofit from the Ascendium Education Group.
The initiative supports NCGYO’s mission in working with teacher registered apprenticeship programs, state education agencies, state apprenticeship agencies, school districts and educator preparation providers.
The funds will be dispersed over the next two years and will help support about 100 teacher apprentices and mentors across Arizona. Other states that received funding were Vermont and Wisconsin.
How will the grant be used to support teachers?
- Prepare additional licensed teachers through quality apprenticeship programs leaving them with no debt.
- Create state infrastructure and policy systems that keep existing programs going beyond philanthropic donations.
- Invest in existing registered apprenticeship programs to prepare future educators, and make earning a teaching degree affordable.
“NCGYO looks forward to collaborating with the strong leadership teams in Arizona, Vermont, and Wisconsin to build high-quality, debt-free pathways into the teaching profession,” NCGYO’s CEO David Donaldson said in a press release. “Over the past several years, NCGYO has led the growth of teacher registered apprenticeships across the country, and we believe this partnership represents another important step toward ensuring local school communities can meet their educator workforce needs.”
Another focus of the partnership is to work with school districts in rural communities and make earning a teaching degree accessible and free of tuition, which may prevent people from entering the profession.
State Superintendent Tom Horne is the head of the Arizona Department of Education and has advocated for increasing teacher pay.
“This is excellent news because recruiting, training and supporting teachers is vital and the teacher shortage has reached catastrophic proportions. 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 said in a press release.
Reporting by “Arizona Horizon” Education Solutions Reporter Roxanne De La Rosa. Her role is made possible through grant funding from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund and Report for America.
