New law provides opportunities for educators throughout the Treasure State

Billings, Montana – Through the Tomorrow’s Educators Are Coming Home Act, often known as the TEACH Act, the state has made a $40 million investment in health insurance and changed the qualifications for teacher licensure. Due to this, around 500 teachers in Montana are preparing to begin their careers, some of whom will work at Lockwood Schools.

Governor Greg Gianforte observed these changes on Tuesday while visiting Lockwood Schools’ staff members.

Schools around the country are being impacted by the teacher shortage, and Montana is no exception. The Office of Public Instruction organized a virtual job fair just before the start of the 2023–24 academic year to try to match teachers and administrators with prospective employers throughout the state.

Thousands of vacancies for educators existed at the time; as of this writing, the Governor’s office reports that the TEACH Act has helped fill roughly 500 of those posts.

All of the crucial positions that were unfilled at the start of the school year, according to Don Christman, the superintendent of Lockwood Schools, are now filled.

“We introduced 31 new teachers and now we are in the process of hiring two more so it will be 18 more openings since July. “Said Don.

According to Christman, a significant portion of that is due to the reorganization of the license procedures, Terron Torix being one example. He is currently teaching Family and Consumer Science at Lockwood High School at the age of just 19.

Torix claimed that after the new law went into effect, he was granted an emergency authorization, which indicated that he had the necessary credentials and endorsements to be employed as a teacher.

The TEACH legislation encourages schools to raise starting teacher salary as well. In his third year of employment, according to Torix, he now makes an income comparable to a teacher.

“Being a third year on the pay scale is a really big thing just because it’s advancing my salary more and I know it’s not all about the money, I don’t do this for the money, but that extra bit of money is really important in having the student success and the student learning and caring for them. Just knowing that we are appreciated like we should be is really important.” Said Torix.

Superintendent Christman thinks that these new regulations will keep doors open for teachers, supervisors, and students.