As momentum grows for registered teacher apprenticeships nationwide, advocates fear federal support for the workforce model is starting to wane.
Those concerns stem from the U.S. Department of Labor’s cancellation this month of a $12 million contract to support states and districts in rolling out their own registered educator apprenticeships. Specifically, the DOL contract funded the Educator Registered Apprenticeship Intermediary initiative, awarded to RTI International, a nonprofit research institution.
As of July 2023, DOL had funded registered apprenticeship intermediaries across industries ranging from early childhood education and healthcare to information technology and cybersecurity to accelerate the growth of apprenticeships nationwide.
It’s still unclear why DOL severed the ERA contract, and the department did not respond to a request to comment.
The workforce model has gained particular popularity among school districts and states as a way to address teacher shortages in critical areas, as it allows them to pay new educators as they work in classrooms under veteran teachers’ mentorship and earn teaching degrees or credentials.
Between 2022 and 2024, the number of participating states offering registered teacher apprenticeship programs surged from 3 to 47. On top of that, DOL data reveals the total number of teacher apprentices rose from 356 to 3,884 between fiscal years 2022 and 2025.
In a May 16 letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a group of universities, school districts, advocacy organizations and nonprofits called for the department to reconsider its decision to cancel the ERA contract. The letter also noted that “the growth and scale” of educator registered apprenticeship programs “would not have been possible without the support of the ERA contract,” which was awarded in July 2023.
Through the five-year contract, RTI has provided states and districts with free technical assistance to implement and design their own registered teacher apprenticeship programs. This support is also “paramount” for efforts to develop national standards for registered apprenticeships in education, the groups wrote in their letter.
“The sudden termination of this work will significantly halt meaningful progress and disrupt services that states and districts depend on to address urgent workforce needs,” the groups wrote. “We respectfully request that the Department restore the work within this administration’s priorities or identify an alternate pathway for this critical work to continue.”
Additionally, the group wrote that without the DOL funds, the quality of programs could worsen, administrative burden could grow for states and districts, and the department’s broader workforce priorities could slow down.
Supporters of registered teacher apprenticeship programs have also said the contract’s cancellation conflicts with the Trump administration’s push to establish 1 million new active apprentices. When President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “protect and strengthen” registered apprenticeships, advocates for the workforce model in education were initially optimistic.
Teacher apprenticeships are also a strong example of successfully giving local control to schools, said Amaya Garcia, director of pre-K-12 research and practice at New America, which partnered with RTI in implementing the ERA contract.
As Trump continues to call for the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education, Garcia said, “it’s a little ironic that an administration that claims to want to bring education back in the hands of the states is pulling back on supporting states from essentially doing just that.”
The letter sent to Chavez-DeRemer said that the contract represents a bipartisan strategy to bolster the education workforce and address the “nonpartisan need for qualified educators.”