State grant aims to bolster Missouri teacher recruitment and retention efforts amid a statewide shortage [Video]

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced that the 125 recipient school districts will be awarded a 2024 ‘Grow Your Own’ grant.

The program aims to decentralize the recruitment of K-12 teachers in Missouri by distributing funds for district-level efforts.

“You have internships, you have scholarships, you have mentoring programs, there’s a wide variety,” said Bobbie Jo Lewis, director of the Missouri Teacher Development System. “I’ve heard of districts actually bringing in help from a partnership, from a university.”

This comes as Missouri, like many other states, deals with a deficit of teachers.

“We have more and more people retiring and leaving, but on the other end, we don’t have enough people coming in and staying to fill that, so that really becomes a problem.”

One feature of the GYOG program is that it helps retain teachers in the areas where they went to …