Nominations for the 2020 Minnesota Teacher of the Year are open today. Submissions can be made through Nov. 15 and can be submitted online. The 2020 Teacher of the Year will be named at a ceremony May 3, 2020, at the Saint Paul RiverCentre. The Minnesota Teacher of the Year also becomes Minnesota’s candidate for National Teacher of the Year.

Eligible nominees must meet these criteria:

• Teach in a public or nonpublic pre-kindergarten–12th grade school, or in an Adult Basic Education or ECFE program, working at least 50 percent of the time directly with students.
• Hold a bachelor’s degree and a Minnesota teaching license.
• Have completed five years of teaching by the nomination deadline.
• Intend to teach during the 2020-21 school year.

Anyone may nominate a teacher. Self-nominations are also accepted.

The state program has been highly successful nationally – Minnesota ranks third in the nation with four National Teachers of the Year.

For more information or to receive a paper nomination form, call Ashley Behrens at 651-292-4862 or 800-652-9073.

Organized and underwritten by Education Minnesota, the Minnesota Teacher of the Year program receives support from Education Minnesota ESI, Educators Lifetime Solutions, EFS Advisors, Harvard Club of Minnesota Foundation, McDonald’s Restaurants of Minnesota and United Educators Credit Union.

By — Destiny Wiggins