Republican proposal to fund training of special education teachers garners bipartisan support

Minnesota is facing a shortage of teachers in every district, across every discipline, at every grade level. But this shortage is especially dire in one particular area: special education.

“Special ed teachers are at a premium and very difficult to come by,” said Rep. Peggy Bennett (R-Albert Lea), the sponsor of HF1589. “[My bill] helps our schools recruit special ed teachers.”

The House Education Policy Committee approved the bill Wednesday, as amended, sending it to the House Education Finance Committee.

The bill would establish a grant program within the Department of Education to develop a pipeline of trained, licensed special education teachers. Grant funds would be used to subsidize Tier 1 and Tier 2 teachers, paraprofessionals, and other unlicensed school staff who are seeking education and training to become a special education teacher. Appropriation numbers should be expected at the next committee stop.

Bennett noted her proposal is modeled on the existing Grow Your Own grant program.

While the program has its origins in rural Minnesota, it has evolved to focus on attracting students of color to the teaching profession, leaving numerous schools in Greater Minnesota out in the lurch. Her bill would help fill this gap, as exactly half of the grant funding would be awarded to local districts and charter schools outside of the seven-county metropolitan area.

Additional barriers exist that are hampering schools from putting licensed special education teachers in the classroom.

Brie Bednar, a special education teacher at Lyle High School, supports the bill so she can finish the licensure process and provide her students with a caring and qualified educator. She thought her local district would help cover the costs of obtaining her teacher licensure.

“Unfortunately, shortly after school started and I’d already fallen in love with each of my students, I received difficult news,” she said. “Recent interpretation of the law prohibits my district from using federal funding to send Tier 1 teachers back to school for this licensure.”