Francisco Duran-Enriquez, a teacher candidate at CEHD, testified at the March 8 hearing of HF3917 (Rep. Heather Keeler): the Higher Education Increase Teachers of Color Act, designed to increase the diversity of Minnesota’s teacher workforce. The bill would provide an additional $8.5 million in fiscal year 2023 for the aspiring teachers of color scholarship pilot program. Its current appropriation is $1.5 million. The bill would also appropriate an additional $1.5 million to the underrepresented student teacher grant program in fiscal year 2023 and increase its base amount moving forward to $2.625 million from $1.125 million. View the testimony.

Previously, CEHD teacher candidate Bari Idee-Igboh testified in support of HF 3079 (Rep. Hodan Hassan): the E12 Increase Teachers of Color Act at a February 16 House Education Finance Committee hearing. The E12 bill is asking for an additional $28 million in investment with substantial increases to Grow Your Own grants and The Collaborative Urban and Greater Minnesota Educators of Color grants. View the testimony.

Both Duran-Enriquez and Idee-Igboh are in the Multiple Pathways to Teaching’s MN Grow Your Own Teachers program (MNGOT) in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Laura Mogelson, director of Multiple Pathways to Teaching, also testified on both bills on behalf of the Minnesota Association of Colleges of Teacher Education.