A program by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) will help Midland Independent School District's plan to keep a local talent pipeline, according to a news release from the school district.
TEA's Grow Your Own program is part of TEA's Strategic Plan and will help to develop high-quality local educators by giving them grant scholarships when they want to further their teaching education, the news media reported.
"This opportunity really came at the perfect time," Lauren Langston, a Midland ISD educator, said in the news release. "It really drove me to not only continue my own education but finish in only two years."
Langston is one of five educators who were able to get their master's degrees because of the Grow Your Own program, the news release states. She is a math teacher at Lee High School and recently completed her master's degree in math from The University of Texas Permian Basin.
"If we can help spark that interest at this age and put them on the track to becoming teachers, it benefits us as a district to have Midlanders stay and teach here," Lee High School teacher Lilia Romero said in the news release.
Romero launched the educator curriculum at Lee High School through the Grow Your Own program after she earned her master's degree.
The grant allows for current teachers to receive a $10,000 grant to go toward their master's degrees if those degrees are in an education-related field.
Both Midland High School and Lee High School have extensive education programs and training because of the program.
"This was a great step toward realizing the goal of creating home-grown teachers," MISD Chief Transformation Officer Dr. Elise Kail said in the news release. "The students who took these classes are now in college, with the goal being that they return and teach at MISD after graduation."