BY DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

Warren County Public Schools is offering tuition assistance for five additional employees aiming to become special education teachers certified in Kentucky, in return for their three-year commitment, post graduation, working as WCPS special education teachers.

As school districts grapple with teacher shortages nationwide, WCPS has zeroed in on expanding its “Grow Your Own” program — where employees agree to stay with the school system for several years in return for financial assistance furthering their education at Western Kentucky University.

The new special education tuition assistance agreement expands Grow Your Own. The WCPS Board of Education approved a draft of the agreement Monday.

The new participants will undertake a master’s program at WKU next year where WCPS covers half of tuition. During this time, these employees, each strongly recommended by their respective principal, will receive their temporary provisional teaching certificate if hired after interviewing for a vacant special education teacher position to begin working within the district.

“Inside of our team, who do we see that’s already passionate and who identifies themselves as ready to move from the instructional assistant to the teacher, or from the teacher to the principal?” said Shanté Galloway, WCPS’s environmental, social and recruitment coordinator. “So it’s us saying, ‘How can we provide opportunities for teachers to continue to build capacity and leadership?’ Sometimes, the barrier between that step to go ahead and move forward is honestly finances at times.”

Employees who are seeking initial teacher certification through a master’s program have three years to complete the program.

The first employees of Grow Your Own graduated in 2022, participants of Gamechangers, an already existing WKU collaboration with WCPS and the community established in 2020 to help increase representation in education.

In fall 2023, WCPS’s Grow Your Own launched its principal preparation program for teachers, participants who are set to graduate in summer 2025, Galloway said. Grow Your Own is currently assisting 10 instructional assistants pursuing their undergraduate degrees and seven other instructional assistants pursuing their graduate degrees — all to help them obtain initial teacher certification to become fully certified teachers within the district.

Nine out of 10 undergraduates who began courses in spring 2024 are pursuing a dual certification to seek initial teacher certification and special education certification. Five of seven graduate students have chosen a learning path that leads to becoming a special education teacher.

Once the additional five aspiring special education teachers begin courses in 2025, WCPS will have 19 Grow Your Own participants seeking special education certification.

Teachers must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA per term and make “reasonable” academic progress toward a degree leading to special education teacher certification, according to the agreement. They must also apply for all scholarship and grant aid reasonably available, the agreement states.