More than two months after school started for most students, Tucson area districts still need certified teachers.
As of Oct. 1, there were more than 80 vacant certified teaching positions for nine school districts, with the Tucson Unified School District having the most vacancies at 69.
Nearly 180 positions in Tucson-area school districts are being filled by long-term substitute teachers, some of whom are working toward teaching certifications or retired certified teachers.
“Teacher workforce crisis has been looming for a couple of years now,” said Katie Rogerson, interim director of Tucson Values Teachers, a local initiative to recruit, retain and reward teachers.
Number of vacancies for certified teaching positions has been increasing as more teachers retire or leave for better paying jobs and districts struggle to recruit and retain new teachers.
TUSD, which is the Tucson area’s largest district with more than 48,000 students, had 69 vacant positions and 96 positions currently being filled by long-term substitute teachers.
To help fill the positions, the district has been trying to increase pay for teachers and substitutes by making “strategic cuts” to its administrative and operational offices, said H.T. Sanchez, TUSD’s superintendent.
The district spent about $4 million in raising pay for teachers, he said. Pay for long-term substitute teachers has also increased from $75 in previous years to $92.
But a long-term substitute is not a long-term solution.
“If you just take a look at, ‘Would you prefer to have a teacher who is certified in the classroom?’” he said. “The answer comes down to an unequivocal yes.”
Sanchez said the district provides support to long-term substitutes, such as having them in department meetings.
Many long-term substitutes are also working toward getting their teaching certifications, officials of school districts said. In Marana’s case, all of the teachers in its six positions listed as vacant — two of which are half-time — are in the process of being certified.
TUSD has also partnered with its teachers’ union to help boost recruiting efforts, he said. “When teachers are considering working anywhere — if they can hear from other teachers, that can make so much more of a difference than just hearing from HR people.”
Sanchez and Rogerson of Tucson Values Teachers both said the problem came down to two aspects: money and respect, or the lack thereof.
“You have to respect teachers as professionals — take their opinions very seriously,” Sanchez said. “And we have to find ways to pay them more. Those are the two challenges we face in the state.”
Paying them more, though, is “easier said than done,” Rogerson said. Teachers should be paid comparatively to what other professionals with the same level of education or experience are earning, which is not happening.
But “respect” is something the community can step up and change, she said.
“The simplest thing is thanking a teacher,” she said. “Teachers want to know people in the community value what they do and respect them.”
