How bad is the state teacher shortage?

One of those vacancies — a third-grade classroom at Tulsa’s Marshall Elementary School — ended up being staffed temporarily by Superintendent Deborah Gist.

The problem is certainly not limited to Tulsa, as a survey of the state’s education leaders demonstrates. Despite increasing dependence on marginally qualified instructors with emergency certifications, the survey shows Oklahoma schools are dealing with a severe teacher shortage.

Blame the Oklahoma Legislature.

After dealing with repeated episodes of mid-term failures in state budgets that were inadequate to begin with, districts have been forced to eliminate 480 teaching positions; and still they can’t find qualified teachers to fill their faculties, according to the annual Oklahoma State School Boards Association survey.

Schools also eliminated 444 support positions and are using more than 855 teachers with emergency certifications, meaning they aren’t fully qualified to be leading the classrooms where they are assigned. The number of emergency certified teachers is expected to top 1,400 by week’s end, eclipsing the record set last year.

What does that all add up to? Fewer classes; elimination of programs for things like AP instruction, music and physical education; larger class sizes; less qualified faculties; fewer experienced faculty members for new teachers to rely on; less available support from districts and, we have to assume, less learning.

We admire the dedication shown by the superintendent when she took on the Marshall vacancy, and it’s always valuable to get back into the field for a little refresher in what it’s all about; but Deborah Gist wasn’t hired to teach third grade.

The problem is that the Oklahoma Legislature has created a situation where no one else was willing to do it.