Tribune: Teaching vacancies remain a concern
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The East Valley Tribune reported there are relatively low numbers of unfilled teaching positions in the East Valley school districts and that teacher shortages are not nearly as high as experts say they are across Arizona.
In a September 2016 survey of 130 school districts and charter schools, the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association found 2,041 teacher vacancies four weeks into the school year, which equates to about 25 percent of the total openings for that year. The ASPAA conducts the survey four weeks into every school year.
Last year’s survey found that individuals who did not meet standard teaching requirements filled 22 percent of the positions and 465 teachers either abandoned or resigned from their jobs within the first four weeks.
Critics of Arizona’s education system say low pay and morale are moving many teachers to leave their jobs for posts in other states – or leaving the profession altogether.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual average pay of an elementary school teacher in Arizona was just under $43,000. When adjusted for the statewide cost of living, elementary school teacher pay in the state is the lowest in the nation, according to a May 2017 report by the Arizona State University Morrison Institute for Public Policy.
In May, Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation that made teacher certification easier to obtain, a measure he said he believes will help alleviate teacher shortages.
SB 1042 “allows highly qualified professionals who have significant experience in a subject matter, possess a higher education degree and have passed a background check to be certified to teach,” according to Ducey’s website.
Opponents argued it will only lower teaching standards and not actually significantly improve gaps in vacancies.