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Should private universities like GCU use public money to address Arizona's teacher shortage?

GCU signs on campus with palm trees behind
Nick Serpa/Cronkite News
Grand Canyon University's campus.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers want to dedicate more money to address Arizona’s teacher shortage, but they’re at odds over whether private universities should be allowed to access public funds to incentivize new college grads to teach in Arizona classrooms.

The Arizona Teachers Academy, started in 2017 under Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, gives public universities and colleges money to provide scholarships to students who plan to become public school teachers. Those students must then agree to teach in one year in an Arizona public school for every year they received the scholarship.

In 2023, the program provided around $26 million in financial assistance to 3,300 students at Arizona’s public universities and community colleges.

“Each year that we pay, they teach in a public school, and it's been tremendously successful,” said Rep. Matt Gress (R-Phoenix), who chairs the Arizona House’s Education Committee. “Thousands of students have gone through it.”

Despite that, Arizona continues to face a shortage of qualified teachers, according to the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association.

The association, which puts out an annual survey detailing teacher vacancies, found that in 2024 around 25% of teacher positions across the state were unfilled and over 50% of vacancies were filled by teachers who don’t meet state qualifications.

To combat that, Gress wants to add private institutions to the list of schools that can participate in the Arizona Teachers Academy.

Grand Canyon University, a private Christian school that operates a sizable teaching program, would be the primary beneficiary, Gress said, though two other colleges could also qualify under his bill, including Arizona Christian University.

Meredith Critchfield, dean of GCU’s College of Education, told lawmakers the university has around 26,000 education students and approximately 2,000 could qualify for the Teacher’s Academy if private institutions were made eligible.

Republicans said the pitch is a no-brainer to address the current shortage — and what Gress described as “an impending retirement crisis.”

“There is more work that we need to do, because a large share of the teaching workforce are in their first five years of teaching,” Gress said. “It’s the highest turnover, highest vacancy, hardest to fill position in public education today.”

Citing GCU’s large education college, he added, “I think they have to be part of the equation here.”

The Legislature and governor have historically funded the Teachers Academy on a year to year basis. That funding reached $30 million in 2023, but it was cut back to $15 million last year as the state contended with a budget deficit.

Gov. Katie Hobbs’ budget proposal includes an additional $15 million, which would bring total funding in 2026 back to $30 million.

Gress’ bill passed through the committees on education and appropriations at the Arizona House of Representatives with unanimous Republican support. But only one Democrat — Rep. Lydia Hernandez (D-Phoenix), a school board member whose district includes GCU — voted in favor of the proposal.

Other Democrats said lawmakers should focus on fully funding the existing Teacher’s Academy at public institutions.

Carol Basile, dean of ASU’s teachers college, told lawmakers that her school has a waitlist of 589 students.

“Because ASU has a waitlist, I think we need to start thinking about how we are going to fund that waitlist,” said. Rep. Stephanie Simacek (D-Phoenix), a teacher who received a master’s degree from GCU.

Representatives from University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University said they do not currently have waitlists but that is because they stopped recruiting students due to uncertainty caused by recent funding cuts.

“We held off on recruiting, because we didn’t know what the funding was for this year,” said Donelle Ruwe, association dean of NAU’s College of Education.

Gress said Democratic concerns are much ado about nothing.

In addition to the $30 million Hobbs wants to give to the Teachers Academy this year, House Bill 2018 would add $10 million to the program. He argued that’s enough money to address the existing waitlists and expand the program.

And Republicans were clear that the fate of Gress’ bill is directly tied to all new Teachers Academy funding.

“Because I think this is important enough to say that if we don't get the additional schools, we're not putting any additional money in teacher academies at all,” said Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria), who chairs the committee that considers budget bills.

Under HB 2018, the Arizona Board of Regents would continue to have oversight over Teachers Academy dollars, including those used by private schools. The bill would also restrict the scholarship amounts required at private institutions “to the remainder of the average in-state tuition and fees charged by Arizona public universities, minus other gifts and aid awarded to the student.”

That, Gress said, would essentially require a school like GCU to cover the difference between its tuition — $16,500 per year for undergrads — and the tuition at a place like ASU, which charges a base tuition of around $11,800 for in-state undergraduate students.

“This is the best public-private partnership I’ve seen in a long time,” Gress said.

But one Democrat also suggested the bill could violate the state Constitution’s prohibition on providing public money “to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment.”

Both GCU and Arizona Christian University identify as religious schools.

“I'm really heartened to hear that there's so much support for addressing the teacher shortage, we've got a great program in the Arizona Teachers Academy that there's broad support for funding,” said Rep. Kevin Volk (D-Tucson). “I think the distinction is I do not believe we're constitutionally eligible to provide public monies to religious institutions.”

Even if the bill passes through the Republican-controlled Legislature, it will need to win the approval of Hobbs, the Democratic governor who has prioritized addressing the state’s teacher shortage.

Hobbs vetoed a similar bill in 2023, because that proposal did not include additional funding to support new schools added to the program.

“Expanding the program to serve students attending private universities requires an additional investment beyond what has been allocated in the [state budget],” Hobbs wrote in her veto letter.

Hobbs’ spokesman declined to comment on whether she supports the new proposal.

Wayne Schutsky is a broadcast field correspondent covering Arizona politics on KJZZ. He has over a decade of experience as a journalist reporting on local communities in Arizona and the state Capitol.
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