In November of 2024, Gov. Evers announced a grant program geared to helping areas in Wisconsin that are experiencing a deficit of teachers. Created in tandem with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD), the grant is meant to provide funding for schools to train teachers — and also recruit new teachers.
The deadline for applications for these grants was December 16, so unfortunately applications are no longer being accepted. That said, there IS an open grant application on the Wisconsin Fast Forward Grants web page for a Technical Education Equipment Grant, which is geared toward “training high school students in advanced manufacturing or construction fields to help address Wisconsin's skilled worker shortage.” The deadline for this grant application is 3 PM CST on May 27, 2025.
MORE DETAILS ON THE TEACHER TRAINING & RECRUITING GRANT
- The grants cover two years of program costs.
- Nonprofit organizations were able to apply for up to $500,000 to assist with recruiting, training and licensing teachers to meet the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s guidelines.
- Funding was available through the Department of Workforce Development’s Wisconsin Fast Forward Program. Previously, the Fast Forward Program funded two rounds of awards across 10 different schools in both 2020 and 2022.
- This grant continues Gov. Evers’ dedication to addressing the growing teacher shortage in Wisconsin.
Here’s what Gov. Evers had to say about the grant …
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. 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.
DATA POINTS
- We can see from the 2023 report by the Wisconsin Policy Forum, that teacher turnover rates (from 2009 through 2023) come in at an average of 11.5 percent. In the 2022-23 school year, this number was a whopping 15.8 percent. This includes, “the highest levels of teachers moving between districts and leaving the profession altogether.” In addition, the report shares that both rural and city districts — e.g., districts with large populations of low-income students and students of color, and small school districts — were the most impacted.
A DPI report from April 11, 2024, sheds additional light onto Wisconsin’s education workforce crisis …
To determine a root cause of teacher retention challenges in the state, the DPI surveyed school districts on a voluntary basis in fall 2023. Among the 37 percent (165 districts) that responded to the survey, personal reasons, compensation, work-life balance, leaving for another profession, and workload were among the top reasons given for why educators left a district after the 2022-23 school year.
This brings us to the conclusion of our article highlighting the teacher training & recruitment grant that was implemented by Gov. Evers and the DWD. If you’re interested in signing up for grant updates from Fast Forward, you can do so here. These grants include teacher training and recruitment grants, worker training grants, teacher development grants, and more.