New state grant aims to bring 80 new teachers into early childhood education
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Minnesota State University at Moorhead, University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas and Concordia University are receiving state grants aimed at boosting the number of licensed early-childhood educators.
The money from the Early Childhood Family Education Teacher Shortage Grant helps students complete their studies for an early childhood education license and a parent and family education license. Both are required by the state for school-based ECFE programs, which serve kids and families from birth to kindergarten across the state.
The state first awarded these grants after the Legislature created the program in 2023. This is the second time the grant has been awarded, and the Office of Higher Education estimates it will help 80 new people become licensed early childhood educators.
Concordia University aims to drastically increase number of students
Concordia University in St. Paul is receiving the grant for the first time. It was awarded $250,000 with 80 percent going to tuition for students in their teacher education program, which will grow the number of students the university can serve, according to Kristin Conrad, professor of teacher education and initial licensure.
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“Our goal was to increase about 300 percent, which would be from six to 24 students,” she said. “But we are thinking that we'll be up more in the range of about 40 students, if possible.”
The grant was created with a focus on rural communities and students of color.
“We serve a large population of first-generation students, diverse students,” Conrad said. “So we think this provides some of those wraparound services and removes some of those hurdles, financial being the main one. So we think that that gives us a leg up on our competitors.”
At U of M, grant helps students in greater Minnesota
The University of Minnesota also received funding in the first round.
Over the past two academic years, the university supported 50 student tuitions to receive licensing and expects to help 29 this year, according to Maggie Beaupre DeYoung, assistant director of the Parent and Family Education Program.
She said this grant is particularly helpful for supporting their students outside of the Twin Cities. For example, it’s helping one student with her online studies in Floodwood, a small city an hour drive west of Duluth.
“This grant is allowing her to continue working in her community while she earns her license, so she's coordinating her programming and her program and still connecting young children and families with the school services,” Beaupre DeYoung said. “But also, she's getting that training that she needs to provide the high quality programming.”
First round of grants have helped retention
The field of early childhood education faces systemic retention and recruitment barriers, including the cost of entering the field. This grant was designed to help.
Megan FitzGibbon, who oversees grants in the state’s Office of Higher Education, said she’s encouraged by the results of the first round of grants.
“They're using these funds strategically to think about it in a statewide sense,” FitzGibbon said. “Knowing that many times, the teachers in these positions are working isolated. They might be one of only a handful of people that are doing the work that they're doing.”
FitzGibbon said the grant is not just to help students enter the workforce but also to stay in it.
”Many of the students that are benefiting from these programs are actually already serving in the schools that they will likely work as a licensed ECFE teacher in the future,” she said. “So it's really also a good retention program for some of the school districts that are seeing these students through and supporting these students through to getting their licensure as well.”
FitzGibbon said they expect to receive funding from the Legislature to continue these grants in the 2028-29 school year, but that has not yet been confirmed by the Legislature.
