Finding teaching positions as a military spouse can be very difficult due to the job search’s location-specific nature and the likelihood of frequent moves.
More often than not, military spouses are required to have so-called ‘portable’ careers to accommodate their partner’s transitions between postings and assignments.
Spouses to Teachers Program
The Spouses to Teachers program, a pilot project, was specifically designed to aid the spouses of active military personnel in their quest for K-12 teaching positions in public and private school systems throughout the United States. This program’s success has allowed it to be implemented in the MSCAA or Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts.
Two key groups that are eligible to participate in this program include:
- The wives or husbands of Army Reserve Soldiers that are on active duty are highly qualified to take part in the Spouses to Teachers Program.
- Spouses of the Individual Ready Reserve Soldiers on active duty are also eligible for the Spouses to Teachers Program.
As a Military Spouse, Are You a Good Fit for the Program?
At present, the Spouses to Teachers program has been implemented in the following states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Utah. The basic objective of this program is to help military spouses become school teachers.
The STT program provides significant help to eligible candidates pursuing K-12 teaching positions. There is limited funding for eligible spouses to compensate for incurred expenses for activities like licensing and teacher certification. The program provides valuable assistance to spouses who have completed baccalaureate degrees or other certification levels and for those who have already obtained teacher certification from another state and need to obtain certification from the new state. STT can also assist spouses with less than a regular college degree for state employment or certification options.
What Are the Benefits?
The Spouses to Teachers program offers information on various available state certification requirements and assistance in reassigning one state’s certification to another. They also provide counseling and consultation to military spouses on different certification options and financial assistance to help alleviate the expenses normally incurred from teacher certification and examinations. Other assistance includes financial aid and employment guidance within the state.
At the outset of this program, the Spouse to Teacher eligibility is somewhat limited for qualified applicants with bachelor’s degrees that are married to service members on active duty and those in the Selected Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve personnel that are on extended assignment. But as the program becomes more established and widely recognized in more than just the pilot states, Spouses to Teachers will find a way to extend its eligibility qualification.
The program is a big help for military spouses because it can only offer limited financial assistance to pay for the cost of state certification requirements within the pilot states. It will still help trailing military veterans’ spouses to re-establish their teaching careers in their new homes by keeping the cost of teacher certification low.
