The New Year brought great news to RUSD. The Commission on Teacher
Credentialing’s (CTC) honored Riverside unified with a $270,868 Local Solutions
to the Shortage of Special Education Teachers Grant. RUSD is the only local
school district to get this grant, which addresses the need for special
education teachers by providing $20,000 in tuition assistance to 13 Classified
staff members (RUSD employees without credentials) so they may become credentialed
as an Educational Specialist.
When RUSD applied for the grant, there were 204 Special Education
teachers in RUSD with full credentials and nine Special Education teachers who
were working on less than full credentials (Provisional Intern Permits from the
State of California). California has a shortage of people with Special
Education Credentials, making it difficult to fill positions.
This grant will allow the district to further provide exceptional
education to our special needs students through more qualified personnel.