Georgia’s news outlets from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to Atlanta News First have reported about a shortage of teachers plaguing the state’s education system. Data from the state’s Department of Education paints a different picture.
Georgia had a total of 123,210 teachers in 2022-23, according to their data. This is an increase of 1,711 teachers from the previous school year when Georgia had 121,499 teachers.
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Michigan taxpayers are on the hook for another $575 million after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced new programs on Tuesday aimed at boosting the number of teachers in the state’s traditional public schools.
The fiscal year 2023 budget was approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor.
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Teachers unions, public school officials and the Pennsylvania’s Department of Education say the state has a teacher shortage.
Data analyzed by The Center Square, however, shows there has been an increase in the number of teachers against a dropping enrollment. Still, the communications director for the Pennsylvania Department of Education explained how shortages do remain.
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The 2022-23 K-12 school year begins in less than two months and Florida school districts are facing teacher shortages.
As of this week, Duval County Public Schools reported 529 vacancies for certified teachers, up 23% — nearly 100 positions — compared to the start of last school year. This year’s vacancies are almost double the number Duval saw at the beginning of 2020-21 school year.
In addition, Orange County Public Schools lists over 200 K-12 teacher openings and Brevard County Public Schools lists 235 teacher vacancies.
And while the numbers are daunting they should not be surprising.
According to surveys by the Florida Education Association(FEA), the number of teacher vacancies have increased a 104% since August 2019. In August 2019, the FEA reported there were 2,135 advertised positions. This number increased to 2,962 in August 2020 and ballooned to 4,359 by January 2022.
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Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage is spurring action in the General Assembly to pass reforms and simplify its certification process for educators.
A proposed bill, SB224, would assist out-of-state teachers’ certification to teach in Pennsylvania. So long as a teacher completed a state-approved teaching program elsewhere, they would be eligible for a comparable certification in Pennsylvania. It would provide for reciprocity with other states, making it easier for teachers who move to Pennsylvania to start teaching.
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Amid calls from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to remedy a perceived teacher shortage in Michigan, some of the leading policy analysts in the state claim the governor’s “one-size-fits-all approach” is based on faulty premises.
Those premises are echoed in a Monday report in the education journal Chalkbeat Detroit.
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Legislators are considering changes to Missouri’s teacher and non-certified school employee pension plans to alleviate pandemic-related teacher and staff shortages.
HB2114, sponsored by Rep. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, will reduce restrictions on pensions if a retired public school teacher returns to the classroom or to a non-teaching position in a public school. The legislation also increases from two to four years the length of time a retired teacher or retired non-certified public school employee can work while still receiving their pension.
During testimony before the House pensions committee, Rep. Black, the committee vice chairman, said similar legislation was passed by the House and died in the Senate last year as the legislative session ended in May. He said the legislation simplifies and improves the amount retirees can earn before their pensions are restricted.
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About a quarter of teacher vacancies across the state remain unfilled in 2021, with 55.4% of the vacancies are filled by teachers who do not meet the state’s standard certification requirements, according to a Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association survey of 145 school districts and charter schools.
This marks the sixth consecutive year of teacher shortages in Arizona. Approximately a quarter of teacher vacancies have remained unfilled a month into each school year since 2016, ASPAA’s press release said.
Twenty-six percent of teaching positions were open a few weeks into the school year, a 6% increase from the 21% vacancy rate in 2019, even though there were 400 less positions to fill this year than in 2019. As of Sept. 10, 2021, ASPAA counted 1,698.67 vacancies in its Oct. 12 report.
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Florida is facing a teacher shortage amid students and staff returning to classrooms in the last few weeks.
The Florida Education Association (FEA), the state’s largest teachers’ union, surveyed districts across Florida and found there was a 67 percent increase in vacancies compared to this time last year.
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A bill proposed to the Michigan House of Representatives on Tuesday could help ease the teacher shortage in Michigan.
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JC Bowman writes: “Teacher turnover will eventually lead to a teacher shortage, if the supply of new teachers via traditional or alternative routes cannot keep up with the demand. Research indicates that high rates of turnover harm student achievement in schools and districts.”
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Tennessee is scrambling to come up with ways to find and keep quality teachers in the classroom. The state Department of Education released a report last week that details the problem and outlines proposed solutions that focus especially on strengthening ties with teacher education programs in the state’s postsecondary schools. “More…
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