BILLINGS — Last Monday, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Department of Labor & Industry announced a new teacher apprenticeship program coming to the state in 2026.
Billings Public Schools is doing a similar initiative, with both programs looking to address the teacher shortage in Montana.
Learn more about the anticipated impacts of the Billings Teach and SAEF programs below:
According to the Learning Policy Institute, the teacher shortage is nationwide. In the 2023-2024 school year, Montana had 443 vacant teaching jobs.
To address the teacher shortage, the federal government launched the State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula (SAEF) program in 2023. It's an $85 million, five-year program intended to expand the teacher workforce across rural America.
Last Monday, Gianforte announced that this program would be coming to Montana in 2026. The state was awarded $4 million from the SAEF program. According to a press release, the apprenticeship program will serve at least 40 school districts, including at least 12 tribal communities. An initial cohort of 160 teacher apprentices and 40 pre-apprentices will learn hands-on experience to become licensed teachers in Montana.
Gianforte sent MTN a statement regarding his expectations of the program:
“Preparing the next generation of Montana’s workforce and supporting starting teachers has been a top priority of our administration. Through this investment, we’re preparing future educators and getting more teachers in the classroom to better serve Montana students and families.”
-Gov. Greg Gianforte
Billings Public Schools' Adult and Community Education Department has started a similar initiative to the SAEF program, known as Billings Teach.
"I've been here six years in various roles, and we've seen a steady decline in the number of applicants we've seen for our positions," said Randy Russell, the executive director of the Adult and Community Education Department. "What you'll see is we'll have positions that'll open and maybe we'll have three (applicants)."
Russell has been in education for 32 years. He said although the decline of teachers has been steady, Russell says it's gotten significantly worse in the last four to eight years.
"I think you'll always see a shortage in special education. It's been in existence for several years. But, I think we're seeing more and more the other disciplines being affected," he said Monday.
Russell said he expects the Billings Teach program to be a solution to the greater teacher shortage in Montana, at least for Yellowstone County.
"Our goal is to try to get this first cohort done by the end of next summer, so that they're eligible to apply for jobs, open positions in our district starting in the fall," Russell said.
According to Russell, Billings Teach will be a year-long commitment with the intent of certifying already enrolled Billings Public Schools support staff. The program requires employees to work at least half-time along with either 60 accredited hours at an undergraduate institution or an associate's degree.
"We want to provide pathways for them to become a certified teacher, so kind of a 'grow your own program,'" he said.
The program is accepting applications until Aug. 4. Russell said on Aug. 11, a committee from the Adult and Community Education Department will review the applications and begin interviews. The goal for the first cohort is 15 members. Russell said Billings Public Schools expects to provide the participants both financial and academic support throughout the process.
Russell said he has high expectations for Billings Teach and hopes it has long-term benefits for the school district.
"Other districts are doing this, but this is a really unique opportunity for Billings to be solution-oriented and help ourselves," he said.
