The Lamar County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to set-up five $1,000 scholarships in partnership with Pearl River Community College and William Carey University’s “Grow Your Own” teacher education program.
“How do you fix the teacher shortage problem?” asked Ben Burnett, executive vice-president and professor of education at Willliam Carey. “Everyone says to raise teacher pay, but teacher pay is not the most common problem. To fix the teacher shortage, school districts need to grow their own (teachers). We want to keep Lamar County people in Lamar County – living and working and paying taxes. Most importantly we want them teaching in the Lamar County School District.”
The program is based on research from several focus groups on which Burnett was a participant, including Governor Tate Reeve’s teacher shortage task force.
Burnett said, “I got a little mad at the end of all these groups because I thought, ‘I’ve spent my time for the last two years talking about this and everybody has the same answers to fix the problem. Answers, but no action.”
He also said that he applauded the landmark teacher raise recently passed by the state legislature, and he feels that will go a long way to help attract people to the teaching profession. He hopes that programs like “Grow Your Own” will help capitalize on the opportunity.
The Lamar supervisors voted to annually contribute $1,000 from each district’s recreation fund for a total for five scholarships per year. Discussions are still ongoing for details like scholarship qualifications and selection process, but Burnett said that the program will try to award the scholarships to students from their respective districts whenever possible.
“During my time as (Lamar County) superintendent the board of supervisors were always very supportive,” Burnett said. “We work well together. We work for the betterment of our community. They’ve always supported education, and I appreciate their efforts.”
