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Lawmakers consider renewing and expanding 'Grow Your Own' teacher pipeline with $500,000 appropriation
Summary
House Bill 499 would extend and fund the Grow Your Own Grant program to recruit and support students from rural and reservation communities into teacher preparation pathways. University and K–12 witnesses said early cohorts showed strong participation and local employment outcomes; sponsor seeks $500,000 in ongoing base funding.
HELENA — Representative Crego Crowe presented House Bill 499 to renew and expand the Grow Your Own Grant program, which funds dual-credit and apprenticeship pathways to recruit students from rural and reservation communities into teaching careers.
Crowe told the committee the program was created and funded in 2021 with $500,000, was not funded in the 2023 session, and that the bill seeks to restart and expand the program. “The Grow Your Own grant program allows for high school students to take dual credit college courses while they are still in high school and also provides for apprenticeship pathways in the field of teaching,” she said.
Angela McLean of the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education said the initial, first-round rollout was “wildly successful” in her words: the three pilot programs placed more than 100 students into dual-enrollment Grow Your Own pathways and one program in Great Falls expects a first cohort of about 13 completers in 2026. McLean said roughly three-quarters of students who started indicated they intended to continue toward a teaching credential.
The bill would provide last-dollar grants of up to $5,000 per year per participant (not to exceed $10,000 per student total) and requires the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education to administer the program and report on outcomes. Sponsor and witnesses said the grant replaces an earlier grant-to-loan-conversion feature from the 2021 law (the conversion language was removed) to reduce administrative overhead and to align Grow Your Own with other state grant programs.
Why it matters: committee members and witnesses emphasized the statewide shortage in critical subject areas, including English, math, science and social studies, plus shortages in special education, world languages, art and music. McLean said the initial pilots produced local pipelines; several students in the Great Falls model are already employed by districts as paraprofessionals and are paying into the teacher retirement system while they complete coursework.
Implementation and reporting: the bill would require OCHE to administer grants, issue a request for proposals to institutions and districts, and report program completion and employment outcomes. Sponsor asked for $500,000 in the biennium and that the appropriation be considered part of the base for the next session.
Ending: OCHE offered to provide a brief plan for how the first $500,000 per biennium would be spent and to return with details if the committee requested them. The committee did not vote during the hearing.
