About six weeks into the school year, some area districts still have teacher vacancies.
Tulsa Public Schools, which started the year with 70 vacancies, is now at 49. Union Public Schools has nine vacancies, compared with 21 at the start of the year. Broken Arrow Public Schools is down from seven to three vacancies. Jenks Public Schools has no vacancies, with two long-term substitutes currently in the process of receiving certification.
But while other area schools are in pretty good shape, officials say teacher shortage is still a problem statewide.
“It’s not a brand new problem,” said Christy Watson, communications director for the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. “It’s been building over time.”
A study conducted by Northeastern State University professor Jim Ferrell and presented to the Oklahoma Legislature last week shows that the university’s production of teachers has been on a five-year decline. NSU is the state’s top producer of teachers.
People are also reading…
Ken Calhoun, executive director of human capital at TPS, said the district’s vacancies are spread throughout all sites, with particular difficulties filling math and science positions at Hale High School, McLain High School and McLain Junior High School; and reading and special education positions at Rogers High School.
Calhoun said the district has been dealing with the shortage predominantly by placing substitute teachers in those classrooms.
“Typically, that’s not a long-term solution,” he said.
Some substitute teachers are currently working on their certification, which would then allow them to be hired as permanent classroom teachers.
The district has spent about $160,000 so far this year on substitute teachers, Calhoun said. The TPS budget this year for substitutes is $1.7 million.
For the classes where no substitutes are available, teachers at the school site are having to absorb additional students, Calhoun said.
Watson said many other districts in the state are coping in the same way as they continue to recruit for the positions.
She’s heard from districts that have moved toward online classes for the subjects where no teacher was hired. Some have increased class sizes.
“In some cases, they’ve canceled classes altogether where they couldn’t find a teacher,” Watson said.
The shortage problem is now becoming more widespread, she said. Whereas the issue used to only be a concern for urban and rural districts, Watson says suburban districts are also starting to report a problem.
In recognition of the problem, a number of entities are collaborating to understand the causes and come up with solutions.
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education are collaborating with the Oklahoma State Department of Education, the Oklahoma Association of Colleges of Teacher Education and the Oklahoma Office of Educational Quality and Accountability to conduct an educator supply-and-demand study.
Angela Caddell, associate vice chancellor for communications for the regents, said legislation now requires the Department of Education to conduct a teacher supply-and-demand study every three years to determine the exact areas of need. The current study is expected to be completed in January.
School officials say a shortage of teachers is not the only problem.
“Obviously, our district has been very vocal that we have to increase education funding,” Calhoun said.
TPS recruits candidates from Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas, meaning that it is “competing with states that are putting more money and emphasis in education,” Calhoun said.
Sandi Calvin, executive director of elementary education at Union Public Schools, said teacher pay is “extremely low” in Oklahoma.
“They can go across the border in any direction and receive a lot more compensation, and we see a lot of people doing that,” said Calvin, who has been with the district 28 years and remembers the days when 20-30 candidates would apply for one position.
Caddell said the State Department of Education’s Oklahoma Educator Workforce Shortage Task Force made several recommendations this spring to address the problems.
“Among those recommendations are strategies outlining how to recruit and retain top quality educators to the profession,” she said. “Compensation, mentoring support, targeted professional development, and career expansion opportunities are some of the issues addressed in the task force recommendations.”
Caddell said the state regents also have programs offering incentives to education graduates to stay in Oklahoma, including the Teacher Shortage Employment Incentive, which focuses on the recruitment and retention of math and science teachers. Other efforts by the regents include scholarship and grant programs.
“Our goal is to continue working collaboratively with all education stakeholders to address teacher shortages and ensure we have the best and brightest teachers for Oklahoma classrooms,” Caddell said.
NSU is also rolling out an initiative this month to help recruit, retain and place teachers in Oklahoma schools. The effort involves reaching out to high schools and conducting one-day academies at the university’s campuses to introduce students to the education profession.
