KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — The Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency is trying to raise money for a new program that aims to boost special education instructor numbers by helping to pay tuition costs for teacher’s aides and other non-certified school staffers that are trying to attain their degrees.
“We’re looking, primarilly, at people who, maybe, have been disdvantaged,” KRESA Foundation Supt. Dave Campbell said during Monday’s edition of Kalamazoo’s Morning News on WKZO-AM. “Maybe they’ve been raised in poverty or they’ve been held back by some systemic barrier.”
Campbell said the agency is trying to combat a special education teacher shortage.
“It’s certainly a regional issue, but having Western Michigan University in our backyard does help us,” Campbell said. “But there’s such a shortage of people wanting to get into special education and early-childhood education.”
Around 51 percent of school districts nationwide report some type of special education teacher shortage. The gap widens to 90 percent in high-poverty districts.
– Anthony Pollreisz
