Los Angeles Needs More Early Education Teachers. How About Parents?

Darya Carranza had never thought about becoming a teacher. As a child, she had wanted to do something that would help people; she toyed with the idea of becoming a nurse. But when she heard about a program that would cover the cost of tuition to become an associate teacher at a pre-school, it clicked.

“I thought about it and I'm like, 'oh my god, it's a perfect opportunity,'” she said. “And when I think about it, I do have four children. So, you know, you have four children only if you do love children.”

She said that when she started her family, she put her own career goals on pause and needed extra support. Now, Carranza said she has that through an L.A. County program that funds parents with kids in Head Start to take classes at local universities, like UCLA, and then become teachers in early education.

The teacher training program covers the cost of tuition, textbooks, permitting fees and child care.

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