Building Classroom Leaders: A Philanthropic Partnership Invests in Producing More Local Teachers

By Nathan March | April 2023

Albert Einstein once said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” Teachers mold a community’s youth, directly and indirectly, shaping that community’s future. All people, from all walks of life, have been impacted by a teacher.

Margery Barancik was a dedicated educator, working with deaf children and young adults who experienced handicaps, positively effecting change in so many lives. Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation has made the training and retention of teachers in Sarasota County a paramount endeavor, and State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) has served as a proud steward of many of these efforts. 

Sarasota County is one of the fastest-growing counties in America’s fastest-growing state. Growth means more families and children, creating demand for teachers at a time when the educator workforce is historically thin. Sarasota County Schools began the 2022-23 school year with more than 80 vacant teaching positions, and by Christmas, more than 40% of the district’s schools still had teacher shortages. 

Retirement rates for teachers reached all-time highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and fewer college students are selecting teaching as a preferred career path. The Government Accountability Office estimates that more than 7% of the country’s teaching workforce retired or changed careers from 2019-2021. As a result, the competition to recruit new teachers has never been greater, with an overwhelming majority of U.S. states now facing teacher shortages.

Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation and SCF have partnered to counteract the local shortage of teachers in the most sustainable way possible – expanding opportunities for aspiring educators to earn teaching credentials close to home, with convenient class schedules and affordable tuition.

The partnership between SCF and Barancik Foundation is not new, but one that continues to grow and flourish with a goal to end the local teacher shortage. Barancik Foundation has committed more than $205,000 since 2018 to SCF’s Educator Preparation Institute (EPI) and Early Childhood Education programs, sustaining these important education pipelines and bringing scholarship funds directly to aspiring educators. EPI rapidly prepares participants with a non-education bachelor’s degree to earn Florida teaching certification. Early Childhood Education degree and certificate programs train educators who work with children at their most impressionable, pre-elementary school ages. 

In 2022, SCF and Barancik Foundation stepped up efforts to fix two of the most significant gaps in the local teaching workforce – elementary education and exceptional student education. SCF’s reputation for providing a first-rate education and placing graduates in high-demand jobs helped to create a swift return on investment by quickly earning accreditation and building a faculty team to support two new degrees. 

Barancik Foundation has committed more than $217,000 to the new four-year degree programs in elementary education and exceptional student education (ESE). Both degrees will be offered with high-caliber instruction, flexible class dates and times to serve students who work full time, and SCF’s dependably affordable tuition that has not increased in more than a decade. 

Graduates earning the elementary education degree will be eligible for the Florida Elementary Teacher Certification (K-6), while the ESE degree prepares graduates to work with ESE students in grades K-12. Both programs also include endorsements in reading for grades K-12 and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL, K-12).

Dynamic, focused partnerships, like the one between SCF and Barancik Foundation, are the best way to meet evolving challenges. Dedicated philanthropic effort paired with a reputable education cornerstone has created a new path to solving the local teacher shortage. 

For more information about SCF’s education programs and how you can help meet the region’s need for more teachers, contact Cassandra Holmes, executive director of the SCF Foundation, at 941.752.5664 or HolmesC@SCF.edu.