FiscalFusion

As an elementary school student, Daniela Gutierrez didn’t have a teacher who tried to get close and form a connection with her. That experience stayed with Gutierrez, now a senior at Mojave High School in North Las Vegas, and inspired her future aspirations. “Since I didn’t have great teachers, I thought I could make a great teacher toward other kids in the future,” she said. But Gutierrez isn’t waiting for college to start working toward that goal. The 18-year-old is enrolled in the Teacher Academy College Pathway Program, a new state-sponsored initiative teaching students what it takes to become a teacher. It includes internship opportunities, potential future college tuition reimbursements, and earning college credits during high school at far lower costs than at Nevada colleges or universities. The program was born from the Clark County Education Association’s (CCEA) push to expand the “grow-your-own-teacher” training efforts already offered in Clark County schools, arguing that existing programs weren’t producing enough teachers to meet Nevada’s needs amid ongoing teacher shortages. During the 2023 and 2025 legislative sessions, the union partnered with Assemblywoman Shea Backus (D-Las Vegas) on two bills (AB428 and AB462) that built out the teacher pipeline by creating the academy.

The legislation requires the Clark County School District (CCSD) to offer the program at every high school with 250 or more students, excluding magnet schools, career and technical academies, and alternative schools. By The Nevada Independent’s count, that is 33 schools, but the district says the program is offered at 46 high schools, with an estimated 4,200 high schoolers on some form of teacher training track. CCEA Director of Strategic Policy Initiatives Brenda Pearson said the academy is modeled after programs at three of the district’s career and technical schools. “I reached out to those schools to say, ‘What do you have here that is going so well, and how can we duplicate what you’re doing in other schools, specifically in our Title I buildings where the students don’t have the same type of opportunities?’” Pearson said. Implementation is optional at other high schools and districts. Students must participate in the program for at least two years and can receive full college tuition reimbursement if they work at a Nevada public school for at least three years, or one-third reimbursement per year of service. AB428 allocated $10 million to the Office of the State Treasurer for tuition abatement. To receive reimbursement, students must complete the FAFSA, which requires a Social Security number.

“The overarching goal is to really grow and mold our students to be the teachers they need to then come back and serve their community,” said teacher Sierra Whittemore, who oversees Mojave’s program and is a CCSD graduate. “When you have teachers that are reflective of the community they teach, it is so much more impactful than when you’re just plopping in a random person that has no ties to anything.” Under CCEA’s latest contract, the union pledged $2 million through the 2026-2027 school year to support students at select high schools, including Title I schools like Mojave, Desert Pines, Eldorado and Western. That support may include helping students pay class fees or providing tutoring. “These are working-class kids who need an opportunity, and we think that this is going to give them just that,” Pearson said. “They deserve that opportunity for upward mobility.” The program gives students an up-close view of the teaching profession. At Mojave, Gutierrez said she’s learning classroom management and student engagement techniques. She interns in third grade teacher Joy Ammogawen’s class at nearby Raul P. Elizondo Elementary School, less than a mile away.

One of her favorite experiences was helping a small group of students during a test. “I felt so special to be there to be assisting them on how to do it and them asking me for help,” she said. She also sees the challenges, such as handling misbehavior, but says those difficulties don’t discourage her. Gutierrez plans to attend UNLV and become an elementary school teacher. “I’m not interested in doing anything else,” she said. “There’s nothing else that moves me.”.