PHOENIX — Arizona school districts are trying to get creative when it comes to recruiting and retaining teachers. Some are finding success with their strategies, but not all of those solutions may be sustainable long term.
The Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association says more than 130 school districts and charter schools responded to a survey they sent about staffing.
The data shows that 29.7% of teaching positions remain unfilled across the state. About 53.2% of the vacancies are filled by teachers who do not meet the state’s standard certification requirements.
Finding qualified teachers is becoming a much bigger challenge in Arizona.
“It’s a lot. We have always struggled with getting fair pay and respect in the profession,” said Patty Lockwood, an instructional coach in the Creighton Elementary School District.
Lockwood was a teacher for five years before she started helping other teachers in the classroom. She works with teachers to help improve their instructional practices.
Being a teacher herself, she has seen the hardships. In working with teachers over the last few years, she feels it’s harder to be a teacher these days.
She cites the lack of pay, lack of respect, and lack of support is pushing teachers out.
“I feel like the veteran teachers... I’ve seen some of them leave the profession because of the challenges that we’re dealing with,” she said. “Some, I’ve seen a lot more in recent years starts in the profession and left pretty recently.”
Marisol Garcia, the president of the Arizona Education Association, says she’s not surprised to see the numbers get worse.
While 29.7% of Arizona teaching positions are unfilled this September, last September it was at 26.6%.
“Unless there are some severe discussions happening down at the legislature to combat the fact that trained professionals are choosing not to enter this profession, we are going to continue to see this slide,” Garcia said.
Some districts have tried to find other ways to help recruit educators into the classroom. For this school year, the Creighton Elementary School District is giving a $10,000 recruitment and retention stipend to teachers and classified staff. Superintendent Jay Mann said that money comes from federal dollars that are going away next year.
He said that the stipends did work this year. At the beginning of the summer, the district had about two dozen open positions. Right now, they only have two open teaching positions.
“One of the concerns obviously that we have moving forward is being able to have the capacity to offer those types of compensation benefits that will allow us to continue to attract and also retain existing staff,” Mann said.
The Cartwright Elementary School District implemented a four-day school week for its staff for the first time this year, and officials told ABC15 previously that it helped recruit teachers.
However, education advocates still feel more needs to be done, especially in trying to find qualified teachers.
“Arizona students deserve highly qualified, prepared, and committed educators. They need to be paid well and they need to be treated with respect,” Garcia said.
Districts have also turned to having teachers who are from overseas come over on J1 Visas to help fill positions. There are also programs in place where college students working toward their degrees are also being taught on the job.
“We really don't have a choice but to handle it. I think really where the impact is on the quality of services and supports we can provide to our students and our community,” Mann said.
