LANSING — Teach For America Detroit is requesting $40 million in state-funding to expand an initiative that has already impacted dozens of Northern Michigan educators.
The group’s director says that the program tries to keep teachers in their communities with a combination of financial aid and professional development investments.
“Instead of trying to recruit our way out of it, we thought the best recruitment strategy is retaining the folks we already have,” said Armen Hratchian, executive director of Teach For America Detroit. “There is no greater investment that the state can make into our economic future as a state, to our prosperity.”
The program, known as TeachMichigan, is looking to put $70,000 in development opportunities toward each teacher in the program, including professional development and a $35,000 retention stipend.
“We want to make sure that teachers can make a living wage,” said Aimee Erfourth, Benzie Central Schools superintendent, whose district participates in the program. “That they can be valued as a professional who’s had to earn a master’s degree to have this job, and truly understand their value, because they’re impacting so many children’s lives each and every day.”
Hratchian says that those investments can make a big difference in more rural areas.
“Those educators are facing headwinds all day long, and they don’t have the time and space and often the resources to be their very best selves for their students at all times, and this investment into them allows them to do that,” he said.
The program received $30 million from the state in 2022 and already has a presence in Northern Michigan — TeachMichigan has put about $5.8 million toward more than 70 educators in Traverse City, Benzie County, Kalkaska and Sault Ste. Marie.
“They’re talking to teachers from all over the state, other rural districts, urban districts, districts that are in between,” said Rick Heitmeyer, superintendent of Kalkaska Public Schools, referring to professional development opportunities. “They’re getting ideas that we can implement here, some of those schools are getting ideas that they can also implement.”
Amy Kronemeyer, superintendent of Sault Ste. Marie Area Public Schools, says the program has helped high-impact educators in more remote areas access resources that could help them throughout their career.
“That is an investment in their time, and they’re taking that time so that they can have a great impact on the students that they serve,” she said.
The initiative has also invested significantly in West and Southeast Michigan, working with nearly 400 educators between the two regions.
“Whether you’re talking Metro Detroit or Northern Michigan, you know, kids are kids. Kids have the same kind of challenges wherever they are,” Heitmeyer said.