how local schools deal with crisis

Teacher shortages are affecting schools across Pennsylvania, and local districts said there is a continuing struggle to fill some positions.

A statewide analysis done by Laura Boyce, the executive director of Teach Plus Pennsylvania, and a Penn State University professor Dr. Edward Fuller said Somerset and Blair County’s overall teacher shortage are rated as ‘extremely severe’ while the rest of the area is in the ‘severe’ category.

Boyce said our area generally has “A very low supply of teachers, only moderate to low qualifications of teachers.”

School officials said filling positions in science, math, and special education are increasingly difficult.

“The number of applicants would certainly be fewer than 10, maybe even fewer than five,” Cambria Heights School District superintendent Ken Kerchenske said, talking about those specialized spots.

The PA Department of Education reports that about 5,600 teachers were certified during the 2022-23 school year, after about 4,200 in the previous year. Even though there was an increase last year, more than double the certifications from last year were earned year about 12 years ago.

Altoona Area School District superintendent Brad Hatch said finding those certified applicants is one of the larger challenges, but he is seeing an increase recently.

Talking to prospective teachers is one step Windber Area School District superintendent Michael Vuckovich wants to see hoping to improve the issue.

“I think we need to start by just changing the narrative of the importance of teaching, what it means, the impact it has and help promote kids in that field and let them know it's a worthwhile career pathway for them to go after and to pursue,” Vuckovich said.

School officials said many schools are working on ‘Grow Your Own’ programs to move in that direction.

State lawmakers are also looking to address the need, passing student teacher stipends of $10,000 or $15,000 in last year's budget.

“Unfortunately, it was only funded at $10 million which was only enough to fund about 600 to 750 student teachers and within the first 24 hours they had about 4,000 applications,” Boyce said.

She said they hope to get it funded to $75 million in the future.

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