Still Short on Teachers

SFPS heads into school year with teacher vacancies, despite state issuing more teaching credentials in recent years

With school set to start on Monday, Aug. 17, Santa Fe Public Schools are still facing 16 vacancies for teachers. The district historically begins with some classrooms staffed with substitutes instead of full-time, permanent teachers. Last year saw the district at an all-time low for open positions on the first day: just six.

Previous years have seen that number as high as 72, though numbers in the teens and 20s have been more common recently, following work done by the district to increase job satisfaction, reduce turnover and hire new teachers through an accelerated teaching certificate pilot program.

This year, late losses in the teachers ranks mean the district has hired for some positions more than once, says Superintendent Joel Boyd, and is still losing teachers in a game of musical chairs that sees New Mexican teachers moving from district to district. Albuquerque and Rio Rancho are also starting the school year with teachers in short supply, with Albuquerque down 182 positions and Rio Rancho 36, television station KOB 4 reports.

A teacher shortage is appearing across the country, as the number of people enrolling in teacher education programs has dropped nationally by 30 percent since 2010. Yet the number of teachers receiving initial credentialing in New Mexico has increased since 2010, according to the US Department of Education, with the state reporting issuing 1,526 teaching credentials in 2014 (though 2013 was the recent peak at 1,942, according to currently available data). That's up from 947 in 2010.

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