Gov. Evers, DWD Announce $1 Million in Teacher Training and Recruitment Grants
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD), today 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.
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.
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.
An online version of this release is available here.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.