Teacher Quality Partnership Grants

What this cut would actually mean

Without this money, many of the residency-model programs that pay aspiring teachers a stipend while they train in a real classroom would likely shrink or shut down, since the grants often cover living costs that let career-changers and lower-income candidates afford to become teachers without taking on debt. That would shrink the pipeline of new teachers prepared specifically for high-need, hard-to-staff schools right as many districts already report shortages, particularly in special education, math, and science.

Why this hits Alabama harder

Alabama gets direct money from this program. The University of West Alabama has used a Teacher Quality Partnership grant, called Project REACh, to train new teachers for schools in the state's Black Belt region, which includes some of the poorest counties in Alabama and the nation. Because Alabama has many high-poverty, rural school districts that already struggle with high teacher turnover, losing this federal grant would hit the state harder than most, since it depends on this funding to prepare teachers for hard-to-staff rural classrooms.

• UWA The University of West Alabama -College of Education- Project REACh (Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Narrative) — Federal grant narrative describing how the University of West Alabama used a Teacher Quality Partnership grant to prepare teachers for high-need schools in Alabama's Black Belt, one of the poorest regions in the state and country, which also has high teacher turnover.
• AL # 84.336 Teacher Quality Partnership Grants - SARC — Program description noting Teacher Quality Partnership Grants require partnerships (which can include Alabama universities and school districts) to match federal funds, showing how the grant supports teacher-preparation partnerships in states like Alabama.