Gov. Lamont Announces New Initiatives to Increase Staffing at Conn. Schools

Governor Ned Lamont announced new initiatives to increase staffing at Connecticut schools on Tuesday.

The new multi-agency state initiatives are designed to address the educator shortages.The $3 million initiatives include the creation of a new teacher Registered Apprenticeship Program, more investment to create paraeducator fairs and expand existing high school "grow your own" programs that recruit and train teachers from within the communities where they live and work.

The teacher apprenticeship program will help reduce financial barriers to becoming an educator, according to the state. The pilot districts, which include Waterbury and New Britain, will be used to create a template to expand the program across Connecticut. It will also build off of the state's current teacher residency programs and NextGen Educator program.

The initiative will also double the number of high schools that offer programs for aspiring educators and help expand educator diversity. The state said the funding will go to an additional 18 school districts for "grow your own" programs. The programs expose students to education careers and feeds into other teacher preparation programs at institutions of higher education.

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It will also launch a statewide campaign to attract more paraeducators to the classroom with an expansion of paraeducator test sites, test preparation programs, job fairs and recruitment events held with American Job Centers.

As of 2023, there are about 1,300 teaching vacancies and about 1,300 paraeducator vacancies with more than 60% of them located in the state's Alliance Districts. Lamont said nearly half of all teaching vacancies are in special education, math or science and nearly three quarters of all paraeducator vacancies are in special education.

“While we have made some gains recently in teacher hiring, there remains a shortage in many school districts, and it is critically important that we maintain the talent pipeline necessary to address these challenges," Lamont said in part in a statement.