Seeds planted for ag teacher grants program

If agriculture is a year-round occupation, then agriculture education should keep the same schedule. But many ag teachers aren’t paid for the work they do during the summer months because adequate funding hasn’t been available.

Sponsored by Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck), HF485 would create a grant program to help school districts pay these teachers for their efforts.

The bill, which was approved by the House Agriculture Policy Committee Wednesday and referred to the House Education Innovation Policy Committee, would direct the Department of Education to develop the program and distribute the grants. Its companion, SF618, is sponsored by Sen. Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls), and awaits action by the Senate E-12 Finance Committee.

“We hear ag teachers do a lot of extra work in the summertime and, for a good many of those, they don’t get paid for it,” Anderson said. “It’s a good bill.”

School districts receiving grant money would need to provide matching funds and grants for each teacher would be limited to one-half their salary for 40 working days. The amount of state money needed to pay for the new program is not yet specified, but it would come from the General Fund.

Tom Appel, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Agricultural Educators, said there are more than 250 agricultural instructors across the state, but the shortage of summer contracts to help them continue to do their work is widespread.

“It seems kind of strange that we teach our students nine months of the year and then, when agriculture really starts to happen in our fields, and our farms and our fairs, that we don’t have some time for that,” Appel said. “We think it’s a need.”