New Jersey’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority recently highlighted two key initiatives to help attract and retain teachers as part of the state’s efforts to address the national K-12 educator shortage in New Jersey, according to a news release.
In addition to raising awareness of the recent launch of the application period for the New Jersey Teacher Loan Redemption Program, HESAA Executive Director David Socolow met with key stakeholders at Stockton University to discuss the vital support for New Jersey’s education workforce from both the loan redemption program and the new Student-Teacher Stipend Pilot Program.“New Jersey’s expanded support for current and aspiring teachers in our communities will boost the success of students throughout their academic journeys,” Socolow said. “These critical HESAA initiatives play a key role in the Murphy administration’s comprehensive and ongoing efforts to grow New Jersey’s educator workforce. I thank Governor Murphy and the Legislature for their commitment to these innovative programs to mitigate the teacher shortage for New Jersey’s students and school communities.”
“With one of the top education systems in our nation, New Jersey is looking to grow and strengthen our educational workforce,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “Teachers are the lifeblood of our school systems, helping to prepare the future leaders of our state, country and the world. It is of critical importance that we create competitive initiatives that attract and retain top educator talent by ensuring financial barriers don’t keep great teachers out of the classroom.”The New Jersey Teacher Loan Redemption Program offers partial student loan redemption for certain recently-hired teachers in high-need fields within eligible schools. Teachers can receive up to $5,000 per year, up to a maximum total of $20,000 in student loan redemption in exchange for teaching in a qualifying position for up to four years. To be eligible, an educator must teach a pre-K through 12 class in either mathematics, science, special education, English as a Second Language and/or Career and Technical Education within one of the schools designated under the law’s criteria. The eligibility criteria for this program were expanded for the current fiscal year to help pay off student loans from any type of lender – including both public and private loans – for teachers who qualify. The Teacher Loan Redemption Program’s application period opened earlier this month and will close Feb. 1, 2024.The other initiative discussed during the event was the new Student-Teacher Stipend Pilot Program. Under this program, HESAA issues $3,000 stipends for student-teachers during their full-time clinical practice semester as part of an approved educator preparation program at one of New Jersey’s colleges and universities. This funding helps future educators pay for housing, nutrition, health care and education expenses while student teaching.The first round of stipends was recently issued by HESAA for the fall 2023 semester’s student-teachers enrolled in educator preparation programs at New Jersey institutions of higher education. Educator preparation program students who complete their clinical practice in the spring 2024 semester will receive their funding in the coming months. You can learn more about these and other initiatives to grow New Jersey’s educator workforce in response to the national K-12 teacher shortage in the full news release.