It's a Rap

A question that often comes up when talking about educator apprenticeships is simple: How do we pay for it? 

The idea of having a second educator in the classroom sounds expensive. Yet, when that second adult is an apprentice learning to become a teacher, districts are investing in both the students in front of them today and the teachers they will need tomorrow.

Research shows the potential benefits of having two educators in the classroom include both supporting student learning and giving teachers more capacity to meet individual student needs. That brings us to the practical question once again: How do we pay for it?

New York State has found a big part of the answer: embedding the costs in a state aid stream through Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) Contract for Shared Services. As Classroom Academy began taking shape as a residency program in 2016 (and would go on to become New York’s first Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Program for teachers in 2021) sustainability was an important part of the conversation. If immersive educator training was going to become a meaningful part of New York’s teacher pipeline, districts needed a way to make the model financially sustainable beyond a single grant or pilot program. By making these teacher programs eligible for BOCES Contract for Shared Services funding ( a reimbursement model), Classroom Academy created a more sustainable way for districts to participate without having to shoulder the full cost on their own.

This model isn’t limited to one region, it spans all of New York State with 37 BOCES regions, and outside of the Big Five city school districts, all but nine public school districts are BOCES component districts. That means the vast majority of NYS 700 school districts already have access to this regional support structure to help pay for registered teacher apprenticeships. 

How does it work?

BOCES  enables districts to accomplish  together what would  be difficult or too costly to do alone. By pooling resources across districts, BOCES makes it possible to offer career and technical education, specialized services, special education programs and professional learning that many districts could not build or sustain on their own, providing shared costs and greater access to resources. That same regional approach can be applied to teacher apprenticeships. So, what could this actually cost a district?

Through a BOCES CoSer, or Contract for Shared Service Agreement, teacher apprenticeship can be offered as an approved BOCES service. This means participating districts may receive BOCES Aid based on the state’s reimbursement formula for costs approved in the program such as apprentice costs, mentor teacher costs, administrative costs and professional development costs. The exact amount varies by district, with BOCES Aid rates ranging from approximately 36% to 90% in New York State.

Here’s what that could look like in practice:

Imagine a district with a 60% BOCES Aid rate that wants to hire three teacher apprentices at $35,000 each. Those apprentices are also eligible to substitute on a targeted program driven basis, adding additional value for the district.

Using an example substitute rate of $122 per day, EHUBNY’s calculator shows that after BOCES Aid and the value of substitute coverage (at 10 days in year 1, expanded to 40 days in year 2 within their certification area), the district’s net cost could be approximately $12,000 per apprentice per year, or about $8.19 an hour. For that investment, the district gets another adult in the classroom today, while also developing a future teacher for tomorrow. The teacher apprentice is receiving a living wage, long term hands on experience in the classroom with mentorship and aligned related instruction working towards their initial teaching certification.  

The policy opportunity is bigger than creating another funding stream. BOCES is already part of the state funded educational infrastructure. Integrating  educator apprenticeships into f that infrastructure gives districts a practical way to share costs, access regional support, and develop local teacher pipelines without  each district having to build its own funding system from scratch.

District leaders can begin by connecting with their local BOCES and asking a few practical questions: What would an educator apprenticeship look like in our district? Do we currently have  incumbent employees interested in becoming teacher potential? What institutions of higher ed can we partner with to recruit apprentices? What certification areas align with our workforce needs? How could a CoSer support the program? Does BOCES already have a CoSER in place or does it need to be developed? And what would the actual cost to the district be after available aid? EDHUBNY can support these conversations—prepping the team, joining the conversation or answering questions about the work. 

The answers will be contextual for each district, yet  the starting point is the same: look at the people already in your schools, look to your higher ed partners in the area for recruits, look at the teacher shortages you are trying to solve, and explore how BOCES can help connect the two.

Teacher apprenticeships do not have to be a stand alone initiative or a temporary response to a shortage. With the right regional partnerships and sustainable funding structure, they can become part of how New York school districts build their educator workforce for the long term.