DES MOINES – Gov. Reynolds has announced the launch of a first-in-the-nation Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program Tuesday during her annual Condition of the State Address.  The grant program will provide opportunities for current high school students to earn a paraeducator certificate and associates degree and paraeducators to earn their bachelor’s degree all while learning and working in the classroom. The program will begin in the 2022-2023 school year.  “This is a transformational opportunity that puts our schools at the center of growing their future workforce,” said Gov. Reynolds. “I can’t think of a better place to recruit our future generations of teachers and paraeducators than in our own classrooms. Through this first-in-the-nation experience today, we’ll be shaping our educators of tomorrow.” 

The Iowa Department of Education (DOE) and Iowa Workforce Development Agency (IWD) will use $9M in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Elementary and Secondary School Education Relief (ESSERIII) funds to create the model program which will train and educate current high school students and paraeducators for the next step in their teaching careers while they learn, work, and get paid in Iowa schools.

Through the grant program, school districts will be required to partner with local community colleges or four-year colleges/universities to provide the required education and training. The DOE and IWD will provide up to $40,500 over a three-year period for each high school student that completes the Paraeducator Certificate or Associates degree model. The DOE will provide up to $47,000 over a two-year period for each paraeducator that completes the bachelor’s degree model. Funding will support:   

• Tuition and fees up to $7,000/year for up to three years at a community college. 
• Tuition and fees up to $17,000/ year for up to two years at a public or private four-year college/university. 
• Hourly rate of $12 for high school aides while still in school and 50% of wages that districts currently pay for aides and paraeducators for up to 30 hours per week for 36 weeks.  

The grant application, deadlines and further information can be found here.  

(UPDATE 9:35-a.m.: The vehicle has been located. Police did not reveal if any arrests had been made in the investigation.)

(Radio Iowa) – Authorities in central Iowa are on the lookout for a vehicle they believe was involved in a deadly hit-and-run early this (Wednesday) morning.  Des Moines police and fire crews were called to a main eastside road before 3 A-M to investigate a report of a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle. They found a man with serious injuries — and he died a short time later at the hospital. Investigators say evidence at the scene shows the man had been hit by a car — which they’ve identified as a yellow 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier. The public is asked to call 911 if they see the car, which will have front end damage — and is now missing its front license plate.

Hit-and-run suspect vehicle

The victim’s name hasn’t been released (as of this report).

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat, says the Republican State Auditor in Mississippi has adopted his program for finding efficiencies and creating innovation in government. Sand says the Public Inefficiencies and Equity, or PIE program it was created in 2019. “It’s a program that essentially collects money-saving practices that government entities can use to protect taxpayer dollars and use them more efficiently. And then also rewards folks for doing well by putting a lot of those practices in place,” Sand says.

He says the program allows for new ideas to be added. “We also collect ideas — so if someone has got what we could call a PIE recipe…we would add that to the list and spread it around the state so these good ideas could get put into place in multiple locations more quickly,” Sand says.

Sand is taking the PIE program a step further by proposing a bill that would require the Iowa Auditor to distribute the PIE recommendations to public entities and prepare an annual report on the program. Sand is running for a second term as State Auditor. Republican Mary Ann Hanusa, of Council Bluffs recently announced she is running as well.

(Creston, Iowa) – Police in Creston report the Dairy Queen property sustained about $150 damage, but there were no injuries, following an accident at around 3:37-p.m., Tuesday. Authorities say a 1997 Ford driven by 18-year-old Nathaniel Flowers, of Decatur, was exiting the Casey’s General Store parking lot at 102 W. Taylor St. in Creston, and attempting to head west on Highway 34, when the right rear tire blew out.

The car left the road and struck a curb before continuing onto the Dairy Queen property at 201 W. Taylor and hitting various poles and brush. The vehicle came to rest facing east on a retaining wall. The vehicle sustained an estimated $2,000 damage.

Creston Police cited Flowers for Failure to Maintain Control.