Kentucky Department of Education proposes student-teacher pay

The Kentucky Department of Education is proposing a plan to pay student teachers to address a statewide teacher shortage. The Board is calling the shortage a crisis. 

Frankfort, Ky (WTVQ): The Kentucky Department of Education is proposing a plan to pay student teachers to address a statewide teacher shortage. The Department is calling the shortage a crisis.

Byron Darnall, the Associate Commissioner with the Department, says he hopes the general assembly considers options for student teachers in Kentucky, who. currently do not get paid. “The frank reality that the educator teacher pipeline is suffering, he said. “It has been suffering for quite some time.”

Darnall says the teacher shortage has been going on for years, but since the pandemic, it has severely increased. Most people who want to become certified teachers in Kentucky have to complete around 70 days of full-time student teaching.

According to Darnall, because of the demands and the time, it makes it tough for student teachers to have another job. “The idea of offering a stipend certainly would intend to offset some of that economic hardships that are seen by individuals that have to forgo perhaps a job they had in order to complete their student teaching requirement,” he said.

The Department of Education is proposing a stipend between $1,500 and $2,000 with “approximately 1,800 student teachers per semester,” Darnall said. “So, it would really depend on the allocation that’s available in determining how much can be given to an individual.”

At least four states have student-teacher stipend programs. “It’s just heartbreaking to think that we might get to a point where schools just simply do not have enough certified teachers, and that is already occurring to a degree unfortunately,” Darnall said. “But we certainly cannot afford for it to get any worse.”

Darnall says Kentucky will have to wait for the 2024 legislative session, and will require support from the General Assembly.