- U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona made three stops in Michigan on Thursday, including one in East Lansing.
- Secretary Cardona visited East Lansing Public Schools, where he heard firsthand about programs aimed to combat teacher shortages.
- Video shows Cardona visiting classrooms and speaking with teachers at Glencairn Elementary School on Thursday.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Battling the teacher shortage. I'm your East Lansing Neighborhood Reporter Colin Jankowski. It's an issue we've been talking about as students return to the classroom. Thursday, East Lansing Public Schools welcomed someone else inside the school, to get a firsthand look at some solutions to the problem.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona stopped by Glencairn Elementary to learn more about the "Talent Together" program, which mentors non-teachers to become part of the field and eliminates barriers like cost and access to training programs.
"If you think about the pedagogy of how you learn and become a teacher, you learn by doing and having a mentor teacher," Secretary Cardona said. "So that's what we saw here today, and I was really pleased. At the Federal Department of Education, we can embrace this, lift it up, fund it, because it makes a difference."
Cardona noted a few reasons teachers have left the field and some improvements that can be made to keep them around.
"We're fighting to make sure that teachers, on average, can compete with others with similar degrees," he said. "In Michigan, the average starting salary is, I believe, $40,000. That means you're going to have to get another job. You're not going to be able to afford a home."
East Lansing teachers in attendance, all of them either mentors or mentees through "Talent Together," mentioned the cost burden that was eliminated for them by making use of the program.
"The fact that I could go to class without having to pay for my books and get a reimbursement for anything that I need, that is a backup that gets us in the door because that is one barrier that has locked a lot of people out," Teia Johnson said.
Others saw it as an opportunity to enter a field they were interested in.
"I needed a new job," Calvin Smothers said. "And I looked at my wife and said 'I don't want to go sell some product.' Like, I want to make a difference in this world. And every time I would drop my kids off at school, I was like 'I want to work in that school.'"
According to the "Talent Together" website, the program is led by all 56 intermediate school districts in the state.
Secretary Cardona also spent time in Grand Rapids Thursday morning, where he heard from teachers who have benefited from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program—a move that some lawmakers criticized.
GOP Congressman John Moolenaar provided the following statement:
"Secretary Cardona has led the Biden-Harris administration's unconstitutional program to force Michigan workers who never went to college to pay the debts of those who did. It is unfair and it is against the law. The Biden-Harris plan is a failure for parents and students."
Cardona wrapped up his visit to Michigan in Detroit, speaking with teens about youth mental health.
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