Arizona’s civic and business leaders joined host Steve Goldstein to discuss AZ Opportunity, a bold initiative from the Arizona Board of Regents aimed at strengthening the state’s economy by expanding access to higher education, supporting workforce development in high-demand fields, and leveraging university research to keep Arizona competitive.

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If the governor wants any more money for a program covering tuition for students who agree to teach in the state, then Republicans say she has to loop in private universities. 

Gov. Katie Hobbs’ executive budget proposed a $15 million one-time allocation to the Arizona Teachers Academy. A proposal from Rep. Matt Gress, R-Scottsdale, counters with $10 million to the program, with the caveat that students attending private universities can access tuition assistance, too. 

“I’ve seen these budgets come and go, and what is pretty clear to me is that this side of the aisle is in favor of funding the Teachers Academy with the proviso that we make some changes to the academy and expand it to private post-secondary education,” Gress said. “I would just say to my friends on the other side of the aisle that this will be a key factor in getting the governor’s $15 million.”

Christian Slater, spokesperson for Hobbs, declined to comment on whether the governor would entertain adding private universities to the list of ATA recipients.

The Arizona Teachers Academy is a state-funded year-to-year scholarship which requires recipients to commit to teaching in a district or charter school in Arizona for each year they receive funds. 

Created in FY2018, ATA has served as a salve for public schools running into difficulties recruiting and retaining educators. 

Both Gress and Hobbs pitched another infusion of dollars into student scholarships this session – but whether the inclusion of a private university could come as part and parcel of an appropriation in the final budget remains an open question. 

Participants now include the state’s three universities, Pima Community College, Maricopa Community Colleges and Central Arizona College. 

House Bill 2018, sponsored by Gress and advanced by the House Education Committee on Jan. 21 and the House Appropriations Committee on Jan. 22, would loop in the state’s private universities, with a requirement the scholarship provided to private school students stays below the average in-state tuition and fees charged by public universities. 

The base tuition for GCU students hovers around $16,500, compared to in-state tuition at public universities, which hovered between $11,000 to $12,000 in 2024-25. 

At least two private universities, Grand Canyon University and Arizona Christian University, offer teaching courses in the state, though the legislation chiefly targets GCU, with Gress dubbing them the “big dog.” 

GCU’s College of Education Dean Meredith Critchfield told lawmakers the school had graduated 600 education students last year and said the university is seeing anywhere from 70% to 90% of students staying in state, with 75% to 90% of students teaching in public schools. 

Critchfield said GCU works with students to mitigate costs, with the university receiving just under $400,000 from the Arizona Teacher Student Loan Program, but is looking to further mitigate financial barriers. 

The bill comes with a $10 million appropriation in tow. 

In the House Education Committee hearing, representatives from the Arizona Board of Regents, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, Maricopa Community Colleges and Pima Community Colleges gave an overview on their respective ATA programs. 

ABOR administers the program and reported a total of 3,330 students in FY2024, compared to 2,400 students in FY2020. 

Since its inception, the program has seen a steady yearly allocation of about $15 million. In FY2024, it jumped to $30 million, but then returned to $15 million in FY2025. 

Brad Kendricks, vice president for finance strategy and governance at ABOR, said funding is typically prioritized for students already enrolled in the program. 

“These are not one-year scholarships, while they are awarded on a one-year basis but we have students who are really relying on this funding to be available for the entirety of their two-year graduate program or four-year undergraduate program,” Kendricks said. 

When the funding did increase in FY2024, universities did steadily increase the student pipeline, but ABOR directed universities not to spend all the money up front given the need to keep funding students already enrolled. 

According to ABOR’s annual report on ATA, in FY2024, the average scholarship was $7,198, with a total of 3,266 students enrolled in the program. 

Kendricks said if the funding level continues at the status quo, ABOR anticipates reducing the number of students entering the program by 36% in FY2026 and 53% in FY2027 to ensure a sustained support of students. 

Universities reported varying waitlists.

Carole Basile, dean of ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation, said ASU has 589 students on the waitlist. NAU had a wait list ranging from 70 to 100 students last year and had held off on recruiting given unknown funding. UofA similarly set a waitlist at zero. 

Gress said he estimated just shy of half of the appropriation would go toward remedying waitlists at participating colleges and universities, with the remainder going to qualifying private universities. 

The bill passed both House Education and House Appropriation, though with some pushback from Democrats. 

Rep. Lorena Austin, D-Mesa, said despite additional appropriations, the measure would still “siphon funds away from public universities,” and noted, too, the cuts to university budgets in recent sessions. In FY2025, the state’s public universities lost a cumulative $74.5 million.

Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, D-Tucson, said the proposal was like an “ESA voucher for private universities.” 

“If we fully fund the ATA in our public universities, we will boost the amount of teachers that are working in our state,” Gutierrez said.  

Gress still maintains there is enough money to go around.

“We have an urgent crisis in the classroom as we face thousands of vacant teacher positions. Our work to expand the teacher pipeline is needed now more than ever, and Arizona higher education institutions like Grand Canyon University are essential in that effort,” Gress said in a text. “I support the Governor’s $15 million proposal, and our $10 million proposal is more than enough to cover the waitlist of public universities and offer students attending private postsecondary institutions an opportunity to participate as well.” 

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