Training to be a teacher is expensive. These California programs can help

Becoming a new public school teacher in California means facing an impossible choice: work for a high-need school, making a full-time salary but with little support or training; or get the proper education and training but lose a year or more of wages.

For decades those were often the only options. But in recent years, California has expanded opportunities for teachers to get paid training for work at high-need schools, namely through special grants and through programs known as teacher residencies. This fall, the state will launch its first registered apprenticeship program for teachers, which means it gives students a chance to earn a wage and a teaching credential at the same time.

These programs are promising, but they’re set against a troubling backdrop, said Mary Vixie Sandy, the executive director of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, in a state hearing last month. “More teachers are entering the profession, but too many are leaving,” she said, adding that there is a “continued reliance on underprepared personnel, emergency-type permits, and substitutes to fill persistent vacancies.”

In the last academic year, almost 16,000 teachers in the state entered the classroom underprepared, about 5% of the total teacher workforce, according to the most recent report by the commission. It’s a significant increase compared to the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. Areas in California’s Central Valley, the far north, and rural parts of the state, such as near the Sierra, have some of the highest rates of underprepared teachers.

Being a teacher is burdensome and for many, cost prohibitive, even in areas with a lower cost of living. California requires teachers to get a credential, which can cost over $30,000, in addition to a bachelor’s degree. Students also have to spend at least 600 hours in a classroom, often unpaid. As a result, many teachers carry student debt for years, according to an analysis from the Learning Policy Institute, an education research nonprofit.

While cheaper education and training programs exist, and some teachers in high-need areas are granted temporary permits to work without a full credential, it can take years to pay off the college debt. Starting salaries for teachers are low, often around $63,000 a year. Many new teachers quit, and retention rates are especially low for those who lack the proper credentials.

Nationally, both Democrats and Republicans have supported teacher apprenticeship programs. In his gubernatorial campaign in 2018, Gov. Gavin Newsom promised he’d create 500,000 apprenticeships over the next 10 years, many of them in fields where apprenticeships didn’t exist before, such as teaching. President Donald Trump said he’ll expand apprenticeships, too.

Still, to be recognized as an apprenticeship program by the state, employers and local agencies must go through complicated planning and vetting. The Tulare and Santa Clara county offices of education spent roughly two years setting up the first teacher apprenticeship programs, which will serve just eight students in the first year.

A teacher prep program with ‘divisive’ ideologies

In 2024, the Biden administration awarded the Tulare County Office of Education roughly $18 million to expand and improve teacher training, including designing future residencies and apprenticeships.

The Trump administration abruptly cut that funding last year, saying the grants promoted “ divisive ideologies,” such as diversity, equity and inclusion that no longer fit the U.S. Education Department’s “priorities.” The Hanford Joint Unified School District, about an hour south of Fresno, was one of many school systems affected by the federal cuts. Hanford has about 55,000 people, surrounded on all sides by dairy, nut and fruit farms or manufacturers who support them. Most people in Hanford have never finished college, making it particularly difficult for the district to find qualified teachers.

The district often temporarily waives the education and training requirements for new teachers, in some cases allowing them to take on a classroom alone with no prior experience. These emergency-style waivers or permits are especially common for teachers in math, science and special education.

The federal grant would have provided a pipeline for teacher residents in Hanford. Residents get full training and mentorship before they are in charge of a classroom and, as a result, have significantly higher retention rates than teachers with emergency-style permits or waivers, said Melanie Leung-Gagné, a researcher with the Learning Policy Institute.

Of the teachers who started at the Hanford school district without the proper training during the COVID-19 pandemic, about half have since left, according to local teacher data reviewed by CalMatters.

An easier hire but at what cost

Hanford West High School is a collection of long, single-story concrete buildings near the train tracks, which run north-south through the town. In Luis Garcia’s special education classroom, long chains of colored paper and posters cover his wall — his students recently decorated the classroom to celebrate his Teacher of the Year award.

But Garcia’s excellence is an exception in more ways than one. When he started teaching in 2018, he didn’t have the proper qualifications. For the first few years, such underqualified teachers are often called interns but are treated similarly to regular employees — handling an entire classroom on their own —- complete with a full-time salary. They are expected to simultaneously enroll in a program to gain their teaching license.

“In a pinch it’s much easier to hire an intern but at what cost,” said Brooke Berrios, who oversees some teacher preparation programs at the Tulare County Office of Education, including many at Hanford West High.

In retrospect, Garcia said more robust training, such as the residency or apprenticeship model, would have better prepared him for the job. “It was difficult because I was on my own,” he said while tidying the decorations before class one morning last month. He mentors both residents and interns now and said he can see clear differences in the quality of their training.

Trump cuts put a student’s future in flux

Unlike during Garcia’s internship, resident teachers aren’t responsible for a classroom their first year. Students co-teach with the help of a mentor while enrolled in a teaching preparation or graduate program. Residents receive a stipend of up to $40,000 during their first year of training. The new apprenticeship program will work similarly, at least in its first year. The main difference is that apprentices will also have jobs as substitute teachers, allowing them to earn more money on top of their stipend.

Last spring, Hayden Pulis was finishing his bachelor’s degree and helping coach football at the University of Central Oklahoma when he decided to return home to Hanford and become a teacher. “I didn’t have any teaching experience before,” he said, stepping away from his class and letting his mentor supervise the students. “Personally, I wasn’t ready to take over a classroom.” He applied to join the residency program at Hanford High School, 2 miles on the other side of the railroad tracks from Hanford West High, where Garcia teaches.

But a few weeks later, he learned in a meeting that the money was cut, putting his future in flux. In an average year, the Tulare County Office of Education supports about 20 residents, said Berrios. With the federal grant, the office was planning to serve almost 100 students, including Pulis, in collaboration with other county offices.

For weeks the district scrambled to find a solution for its incoming class. Using other state funds, Berrios said the school district was able to fulfill its commitment to Pulis, though his stipend was reduced to $35,000.

It was a “weight off my chest,” Pulis said. If the program hadn’t come through, he said he’d probably still be coaching football.

An opportunity to build wealth

All told, California has spent roughly $2.1 billion over the past decade to address teacher shortages, often through grants to make credentialing programs cheaper and make the training better. The largest pot of state funding goes toward residency programs, including the stipends.

There’s also the Golden State Teacher Grant, which gives students up to $10,000 toward the cost of their teaching credential. In return, aspiring teachers commit to working in schools, such as Hanford West High or Hanford High, where the students are majority low-income, English learners or foster youth. Pulis used the money to cover much of his tuition. The grant program is set to end this year, unless state lawmakers approve new funding in the upcoming budget.

Starting this summer, the state is launching a new grant that pays student teachers $10,000 for the hundreds of hours of classroom work during their preparation.

For Pulis, just thinking about the impact of these programs on his life makes him emotional. The grants allowed him to get a head start on building wealth, he said, speaking for himself and his wife, who is working as a waitress while in nursing school. In the past year, Pulis got married and moved to California — major expenses that would have been much harder to bear, he said, if not for the Golden State Teacher Grant and the $35,000 residency stipend.

Many of these grants and programs didn’t exist when Garcia was starting as a teacher in 2018. The internship was the only feasible route financially, he said, since other programs required him to study or work without a salary.

Internship programs, such as the one Garcia did, often pay more than more rigorous training programs, such as residencies, though Berrios said she intends to continue bringing those costs down.

Garcia still has about $30,000 in debt from the graduate-level teaching program he enrolled in as an intern. He also has another $50,000 in debt from his bachelor’s degree at Sacramento State.

Still, he said he had no regrets and was proud of his recent Teacher of the Year award. “Am I rich? No. But it’s nice that your colleagues see your hard work and your students praise you.”

When asked if the award came with a cash prize, he laughed and said no. “I’ll gladly take a donation.”

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This story was originally published by CalMatters and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.