State approves 245 more emergency certifications to fill teacher vacancies

The Oklahoma State Board of Education on Thursday approved another 245 emergency teaching certifications, tacking onto its record total.

In the first four months of the fiscal year, the state board has approved 44 percent more emergency teaching certifications than in the entirety of the previous year.

The total for the 201718 academic year is now 1,674, compared to 1,160 in 2016-17.

Amid a statewide shortage of qualified applicants, schools across the state have grown increasingly reliant on filling vacancies with teachers who have not yet completed the state’s requirements for either a traditional or alternative certification. At last check, Tulsa Public Schools had 185 new hires with or in the process of getting emergency certification.

Skeptics of Oklahoma’s teacher shortage point to the fact that there are shortages of teaching applicants in other states, but just five years ago this state issued only 32 emergency teaching certificates in a single year.

The certificates allow individuals to be employed as teachers before they complete the education or training requirements for regular or alternative certification. Some are certified teachers who lack certification in the subject matter or grade level in which they are needed to teach for 2017-18, but the vast majority are newcomers to education.

School superintendents have to certify to the state that no certified candidates were available to fill a position they wish to fill with someone who needs an emergency certificate.

Because of the teacher shortage, state law was changed last year to allow teachers to teach for two academic years with emergency certification.

State schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister has been outspoken in her concern about the growing population of public school students being taught by these unproven teachers. That number was nearly 53,000 in fall 2016, and not included was the number of students affected by the 800-plus unfilled teacher vacancies in schools across the state.

August survey results from the Oklahoma State School Boards Association found public schools cut at least another 480 teaching positions in budget reductions for 2017-18, yet began the new academic year with 536 vacancies.