He said those reports did not flesh out reasons for shortages and individual school districts’ needs, however, prompting the current study of the state’s teaching ranks.
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In Tulsa, the district has 40,000 students and 2,800 certified staff – about 100 fewer teachers compared to a year ago.
As a result, 34 percent of school leaders said their schools will likely be forced to offer fewer courses this school year and almost half of respondents said class sizes are likely to increase.
A third of school leaders surveyed said they will offer fewer courses this school year.
Dan Rossmiller, lobbyist for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, said the teacher shortages being felt in Wisconsin reflect a national trend of fewer high school students studying in college to become classroom teachers.
State Public School Superintendent Tony Evers said there are “have” and “have not” school districts in Wisconsin, and he’d like to even things out.
“People who have never trained a day as a teacher are now responsible for teaching elementary school students how to read and do math”, Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association said in a press release. “We are hemorrhaging teachers to Texas, Arkansas and Kansas”, Hime said.
“We have high school students who can’t take Spanish because their school can’t find a teacher.This is what it looks like when a state fails its schools and its children”, Himes said to Tulsa World.
“Not a hard sell to make”, Hime said.
In a statement announcing the change, Evers didn’t indicate the scale of the teaching shortage, but McCarthy said a full report will soon be released on the state’s demand for teachers and its supply. “It can’t be solved quickly”. That’s not counting the 381 emergency certifications made over the summer months.
“It is not breaking news that our teacher salaries are so low”, Romans said. “A lot of our qualified folks are leaving the state”.
The state’s rules on rehiring public employees drawing pension payments would apply to retired teachers seeking the five-year license.
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“There has been some loss of respect for the profession”, Romans said.
