We have an acute teacher shortage, and some ND lawmakers are talking about punishing educators
Minot, N.D. — On the same day this week, in two different cities, two panels of our state government held meetings related to education.
I think it is illuminating to put them in juxtaposition.
First, in Grand Forks, a meeting of the legislature’s Interim Higher Education Committee advanced a bill for next year’s session that it aimed at addressing the state’s acute teacher shortage. The bill is aimed at greasing the skids for paraprofessionals to get full teaching degrees, but for our purposes, the details of the teacher shortage presented to the committee are what’s pertinent.
Per our Ingrid Harbo’s report : “Across North Dakota K-12 schools, there are 418 open teaching positions, said Josef Kolosky, director of school approval and opportunity at NDDPI.”
School just started, so that’s a big problem.
