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.
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.
The state has been dealing with a 25-percent decline in its teacher workforce over the last six years.
The department hopes to have the grants ready for the next school year.
