MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce (DWD), today announced $1 million in grants to three nonprofit groups through the Teacher Training and Recruitment Grant Program, which will support efforts to train and recruit teachers where shortages are most prevalent in Wisconsin.
“As a former educator, I know our teachers and educators work every day to go above and beyond for our kids, but the fact of the matter is that we need more of them and we have work to do to recruit, train, and retain the strong education workforce our kids deserve,” said Gov. Evers. “This grant program will help bolster our education workforce, provide training for over 230 teachers, and ensure our schools, , our kids, and our communities have the support they need to do what’s best for our kids and keep class sizes small.”
These grants, which are part of DWD’s Expanded Wisconsin Fast Forward (WFF) program, cover two years of program costs to help recruit, train, and license teachers to meet the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) guidelines for serving qualifying school districts.
“By training teachers and recruiting them to classrooms where they are most needed, this funding expands our educational workforce and offers students a better chance to thrive,” said DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek. “We all know the difference a great teacher can make, and this program connects the dots between people who want to enter the profession and the students who need them most.”
The WFF program funded two rounds of awards in 2020 and 2022 that helped 309 educators through five grants. In this round of grants, the following nonprofit organizations were awarded WFF grants:
Center for Urban Teaching | $297,173
The Center for Urban Teaching will use grant funding to recruit and train 104 teachers to attain teaching licenses through DPI. The group exists to identify, prepare, and support high-performing urban teachers and leaders to serve in public or private schools in Wisconsin’s low-income, urban school districts.
Teach for America | $221,287
Teach for America in Milwaukee is partnering with Carthage College to recruit, place, train, and support 90 teachers to attain their licenses through DPI. They’ll be placed at low-income schools in high-need subject areas in Milwaukee.
Urban League of Greater Madison | $481,540
The Urban League of Greater Madison is working with the Madison Metropolitan School District, the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison, and Edgewood College to support the Urban Educator Cohort Pathway program with grant funding. Through this program, they’ll recruit, train, mentor, and place 42 licensed teachers in the high-need areas of special education and English as a second language bilingual education. Recruits will earn credits toward their licenses at the UW-Madison School of Education or Edgewood College.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON GOV. EVERS’ EFFORT TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN TEACHERS STATEWIDE
Over the past six years, Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration have made it a top priority to address the state’s generational workforce challenges and build a workforce prepared to meet the needs of a 21st-century economy by making smart, strategic investments in key sectors, especially the education workforce, including launching the state’s first-ever teacher apprenticeship program. Gov. Evers’ 2025-27 Executive Budget plan included provisions to help get more teachers into the education workforce to keep class sizes small and ensure kids get the best education possible. Unfortunately, despite education workforce shortages in school districts across the state, last week, Republicans voted to remove provisions to:
- Investment in the state’s Registered Apprenticeship Program and Fast Forward workforce training opportunities for in-demand fields, including artificial intelligence, teacher apprenticeships, and green jobs training;
- Allow schools to rehire retired teachers who have experience and expertise in the classroom;
- Streamline the process for folks who follow a teacher apprenticeship pathway to get their teaching license; and
- Support “Grow Your Own” initiatives that help bring students back to teach in the school districts they graduated from.
