Delivers Radio Address on New Teacher Apprenticeship Program.

MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today celebrated Public Schools Week by delivering the Democratic Radio Address highlighting his administration’s efforts to address Wisconsin’s need to recruit, retain, and train talented workers in the education workforce through the launch of a new teacher apprenticeship pathway, as announced in his 2024 State of the State address. 

The new teacher apprenticeship pilot program will help address issues in turnover and retention while also bolstering and strengthening the state’s educator pipeline by reducing barriers and encouraging more young people to enter the field. The apprenticeship model includes built-in mentorship during the program and will help new educators build networks of support and professional learning.

The governor’s radio address comes as he proclaimed this week, February 26 through March 1, as Public Schools Week in conjunction with national observances. The governor’s proclamation is available online here.

Audio File of Radio Address.

Hey there, Wisconsin. Governor Tony Evers here.

Making sure our workforce is prepared to meet the needs of a 21st-century economy is a top priority for me and my administration, and it’s one of the reasons I declared 2024 the Year of the Worker.

I promised during my 2024 State of the State address that we’d continue pursuing every pathway to address our state’s generational workforce challenges, just as we have for the past five years.  

One high-need area of our workforce where we know we have work to do to retain, recruit, and train talented workers is our education workforce.

Our teachers and educators work every day to do what’s best for our kids, but recent estimates show that only 67 percent of new educators in Wisconsin make it past five years.   

So, we’re launching a new teacher apprenticeship pilot program to provide more mentorship and support for new educators.

This new pilot program will help address issues in turnover and retention while also bolstering and strengthening the state’s educator pipeline by reducing barriers and encouraging more young people to enter the field.   

While student teaching can be cost-prohibitive for low-income students, nontraditional students, or individuals looking to change careers, our new apprenticeship program will enable people to earn while they learn with paid on-the-job training and classroom instruction.   

This program will also have built-in mentorship opportunities, a key part of helping with retention and building networks of support for new teachers.    

What’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state, and this new apprenticeship program will help keep class sizes small and reduce barriers for folks to jumpstart their careers in education.   

That’s a win-win for our kids, our schools, and our workforce, too.

Thank you.