The U.S. Secretaries of Education and Labor visited Reno on Wednesday to highlight the Biden Administration's efforts to expand high-quality and affordable pathways to teaching, as well as increasing pay and strengthening working conditions across early childhood, K-12, and higher education.

"We're prioritizing what I call the ABCs of the teaching progression: autonomy and agency for educators, better working conditions, and competitive salary," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

The collaboration between the two agencies is centered on the Good Jobs Principles for Education.

"Jobs need to be better to attract workers in that environment, and we know that like the country, Nevada has had issues with teacher retention. Some of that is with teacher pay. President Biden has been really clear that teachers need to be paid more, and some of it is making sure workers have a real voice in their jobs," said U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su.

The Department of Education is receiving funding to finance teacher apprenticeships.

Currently, there is only one registered teacher apprenticeship program available in the state, which is offered by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, the objective is to broaden the provision of High-Quality and Affordable Pathways in Education throughout Nevada.

"When you're done with college, you go to student teaching, and you work as a student teacher for free for four months. You can't do that. How do we attract people to the professions if we are asking them to work for four months for free? We don't do that in other professions. We have to change that, and under her [Julie Su] leadership, we are now allowing these student teachers to get paid through an apprenticeship," said Cardona.

On Wednesday, the secretaries organized a roundtable meeting with the Washoe County School Board, educators, state and local leaders, and union representatives.

The main topic discussed was the recent union negotiation that resulted in the state providing additional matching funds. This negotiation has led to a pay raise of approximately 20 percent for teachers in the Washoe County School District for over a two-year period.

"We saw that right here in Washoe County with teachers getting a historic wage increase after negotiating at the bargaining table," said Su.

Full breakdown of the: Departments' funding opportunities