Arizona School Personnel Administrators association takes a survey every year to determine the exact impact of teacher shortages on the state. In spite of new teacher certification rules and the Arizona teacher pay raise, teacher shortages are still classified as severe. Here are the numbers and of Arizona teacher vacancies –
Teacher openings for the 2018-2019 school year: 7,453
Still open positions – 1,693
Interesting part of the survey – they show how those openings are being filled:
- 703 are being filled by long term subs
- 363 are being filled by Special ed positions through contract agencies
- 14 are being filled by instructional coaches
- 163 were filled by increasing class sizes (not filled)
- 449 were filled by teachers giving up their classroom planning time
That is bad enough – but there is more bad news in Arizona teaching
- 1,447 teachers do not have a certificate – but are teaching and hope to have a certification by the end of year
- 875 teachers are on emergency certificate
- 311 are on H1B1 Visas
Using new certification routes
- 856 are working on their alt cert
- 274 are on the subject matter experts certs
How many left so far – 913 of which 76% had a full certificate
- 126 just did not even report to work
- 115 completely abandoned their job
- 672 resigned
These are bad numbers and something we are working hard to change by making sure that we have more certified teachers in classrooms. Arizona Teachers is helping – but we need more candidates to fill these positions.
