Northampton included in state program to help recruit and retain teachers

RICHMOND —The Virginia Department of Education is allocating $12 million to a variety of programs as part of its ongoing teacher recruitment and retention efforts, including $2 million to encourage and assist aspiring educators and other school staff to earn full state teaching licensure. Twenty school divisions, including Northampton County, with relatively high percentages of provisionally licensed teachers are being invited to apply for grants to cover the tuition and fees for the required coursework.

Although provisionally licensed teachers are the most likely candidates to benefit, support under the Continuing Education Support Grant program is open to all employees in the identified divisions — including school counselors, social workers and support staff — who are seeking full state licensure.

The eligible divisions all have rates of provisional licensure of 10% or higher or, in the case of divisions employing 1,000 or more teachers, 5% or higher. The divisions have until January 10 to apply.

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