MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports on Teacher Quality Enrichment, a scholarship program that is helping diversify the ranks of the district's ESL teachers. St. Paul's public school district is trying to boost the number of immigrants teaching English as a second language.

The T-Q-E program is funded by a 3.3 million dollar grant from the U-S Education Department. It allows employees of the Saint Paul schools, many of them educational assistants, to take the classwork they need to be licensed as teachers and then to be further licensed to teach E-S-L or special ed, two areas where the district's need for teachers is greatest. It's a joint project with the unions that represent teachers and teacher aides and with the University of Saint Thomas.