Local educators will soon benefit from a Florida Department of Education grant worth $463,000. The grant program will impact Florida State University Panama City, Gulf Coast Community College and four local school districts: Bay Gulf, Franklin and Holmes.

The grant will establish the "fast packs" program in our schools. Fast-packs helps certify teachers who do not have the appropriate certification for the courses they're teaching. It also allows teachers to get certified in a second area of coursework.

"Nationally, internationally we have fallen down in math and science area. We're not producing as many engineers, scientists, etc. We've got to keep our math and science strong and we need strong people teaching in those fields," said Dr. Jim Kerley, Gulf Coast Community College President.

"What I know about teachers is this is that teachers are always trying to find a way to do more training for themselves. I think for them they will readily accept this kind of training that they will need because it will be no cost to them to do it," said James McCalister, Bay County School Superintendent.

Between the four school districts, coordinators say about 250 classrooms are taught by out-of-field teachers each day.