Emergency teacher certificates pass 2,500

The number of unlicensed and nontraditionally trained teachers in Oklahoma classrooms continues to grow by the hundreds.

On Thursday, the state Board of Education approved 412 more emergency teacher certificates issued to school districts that lack qualified candidates to fill teaching vacancies.

Since June, the panel has approved 2,565 certificates. That’s 590 more than were approved over the previous 12 months.

“We continue to feel the full brunt of the teacher shortage,” state schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said. “Districts still have certified positions open without qualified applicants to fill them.

“We are grateful to those who have stepped in when others have stepped out of the profession, but this is our

harsh reality; we need to make teaching more attractive by providing training, support and the tools necessary to succeed in Oklahoma classrooms.”

Tulsa Public School applied for 30 certificates, followed by Oklahoma City Public Schools with 23. To date, 328 teachers in the Oklahoma City district, or 13 percent, lack a state teaching license and are allowed to lead a classroom for two years while they complete their training.

Other Oklahoma City

metro-area school districts requesting emergency certificates include Moore (21), Western Heights (15), Midwest City-Del City (13), Putnam City (13), Norman (9), Yukon (6) and Mustang (5).

Two-thirds of school districts that responded to a survey by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association in August said they would need emergency certified teachers to fill remaining vacancies.

The survey, which found nearly 500 teaching vacancies, also found that a state-funded pay raise had done little to slow the teacher shortage.