ARIZONA, USA — Some Arizona school districts are returning to class in less than 24 hours and are still working to fill some teacher positions.
Most commonly, districts are having more difficulty filling special education teacher vacancies.
Tempe Union High School District has two positions they’re working to fill as students return to class Wednesday.
“I've been sitting in this seat for seven years. It's the first year where we've gotten really straight down to the wire and trying to fill some positions,” Mary Keller, Ed.D, the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources at TUHSD, said.
In total, Keller says she had 74 vacancies to fill before the 2023-2024 school year; about 30 of them were from retirements.
The 74 vacancies make up about 11% of Tempe Union’s total teacher positions.
“What we have seen over the past three years since the pandemic is people are leaving for things that we have no control over, right?” Keller said. “They're leaving for the health of themselves and their families. So we've seen people actually leave to go out of state to go back from where they came.”
The hardest positions Keller says she’s been working to fill are science and special education roles.
“In my work with some of the colleges and universities, what we're finding is kind of the pool of folks actually getting into wanting to teach special ed(ucation) is shrinking a little bit,” Keller said. “We know that, but it's a tough thing, and we've been working a variety of ways get creative; we've gone to some contractors, but even they're having a hard time finding people.”
A spokesperson for TUHSD told 12News there are about 20 special education vacancies the district is working to fill heading into the school year. Right now, those positions are being filled by long-term substitutes.
“I think it's difficult for every district,” Mike Minghine, Chief Operating Officer and Assistant Superintendent of Tempe Elementary School District, said. “Special education teachers are amazing and they do amazing things for our kids, and so the need for them is great. Our students need them. Our schools need them desperately.”
To work to fill those open positions and other positions like bus drivers and support staff, Tempe Elementary School District is hosting a job fair on Friday, July 18. Pre-registration is available here.
Kyrene School District says they’ve retained 85% of their teachers from last year, hiring 100 new teachers to fill open positions.
A spokesperson told 12News they, too, are always looking for special education teachers. Currently, those open positions are being filled with substitutes and outside contracts.
Each district is finding ways to ensure a teacher in front of all kids going to school Wednesday, remaining hopeful there’ll be movement in Arizona’s teacher shortage in the future.
“It's probably going to hit it down turn before it turns up. But the good thing is, is everybody's on it, right? I know the Governor has a task force that they've sought our input as districts, and we're providing that input… So that makes me feel that we're headed in a definitely right direction. And for us, it just means we have to be creative.” Keller said.
One thing Keller says has helped Tempe Union High School District is creating an Educator Preparation Program. That allows the district to hire teachers on an Alternative Teaching Certificate, meaning people with degrees in an area like math or science can teach while they go through a typically two-year program to get the requirements for an Arizona Standard Professional teaching certificate.
Currently, Keller says, four teachers have come through that program.
“We had to figure out a way that we can attract people that have content knowledge. But also we wanted to have a program that would support them, to teach them how to be great teachers,” Keller said.
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