A statewide grant aims to help teaching shortages that several public school districts are facing across Iowa.

The Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program allows high school students the opportunity to become paraeducators, before they graduate from high school, and for existing associates to gain their teaching credentials. Greene County and Paton-Churdan School Districts are interested in applying for the grant. Greene County Schools Superintendent Tim Christensen believes there’s some interest in this program that they will be applying for.

“In particular at the high school, we’ve got the child development program, some of those students, they work as associates whether it be in the pre-k program or the early learning center. So I do think there’s a call for that. We have several associates, again in particular over the last couple of years that have gotten their substitute authorization, and have done a lot of substitute teaching for us. So they’ve gotten that taste that I think that they would be very interested in pursuing that as well.”      

District 47 Representative Phil Thompson of Boone says the legislature is also working to provide other ways to help increase the teaching population, such as expanding eligibility for school loan repayment programs for teachers, eliminating the practice exam for individuals to receive their teaching licensure, and alternative ways to get a teaching licensure.

“So there are some programs where if you already have a degree in an area and you are established in a career a license to teach. And hopefully, we can also expand the pool of qualified teachers that way too.” 

Thompson is also supportive of the governor’s Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program.