U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona was in Kissimmee on Thursday to talk about the importance of incentivizing more people to go into teaching, especially in high-demand areas like special education.
Cardona’s visit comes days after his department granted the University of Central Florida $1.2 million to provide masters degrees in special education to current teachers.
The goal is to graduate 40 special ed teachers over the next five years.
Cardona said making sure teachers can pursue higher education for free is crucial, especially in high-demand areas like special education.
“We have a shortage of special education teachers. I talk to parents whose children are capable of so much. They're not defined by their disability, but they need additional support to get to their potential. And we don't have enough special education teachers, so we're doing our part,” said Cardona.
Cardona said programs like UCF’s can help with retention in the teaching profession, and alleviate a state and nationwide teacher shortage.
“As a country, we have to do better to support our educators. Lift them up. I call it the ABCs of teaching. Provide agency, better working conditions and competitive salary, and we're committed to doing our part at the federal level,” said Cardona.
Special education was the most critical teaching shortage area in the state last year, according to the Florida Department of Education.
Also according to the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Education Association, teacher vacancies dropped throughout Florida this fall.
But there were still some 5,000 open positions that needed to be filled in the state. The majority of vacancies were in special ed, elementary education and speech pathology.
Students enrolled in the UCF program are already teachers who have a bachelors degree. The program allows them to continue their teaching job, while pursuing their masters in special education online.
Students also receive a $3,000 stipend. The first cohort of teachers entered the program this fall.
Read the Florida Department of Education’s full report on critical shortage areas in the field of education:
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