State to Spend on Teacher Recruitment

Missouri is designating 50-million dollars in federal coronavirus aid to create K-12 teacher recruitment and retention grants. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will make 10,000-dollar grants available to all Missouri public school districts and charter schools to create or expand local teacher recruitment programs. Dr. Paul Katnik (rhymes with catnip), an assistant commissioner with the agency, says there has been a 25-percent decline in Missouri K-12 teachers over the last six years.

Currently, 20 percent of Missouri school districts have some type of teacher recruitment program. The department says recruiting three to four high school students in all districts and schools to the education profession could result in about two thousand new teacher candidates.