But since the Grow Your Own Teacher program was launched in January 2005 it has produced just 102 college graduates, and only about 80 of those are teaching.
Hundreds of would-be teachers dropped out after borrowing from the program for college tuition, fees and books, and they didn’t have to repay the loans under rules laid out by the state, officials said. Millions of dollars went to colleges and community groups tapped as program administrators, in some cases eclipsing money spent on the teacher candidates, state financial records show.
Teachers who launched their careers through the program say it changed their lives, and lawmakers who support it stress the importance of more minority teachers in a state with one of the biggest gaps in the country between the percentage of minority students and the percentage of minority teachers.