Local school district declares hiring emergency
Madison school district is struggling to find teachers less than a month before school starts.
The school board declared a hiring emergency because it cannot find enough qualified candidates to teach core classes.
“It’s a good family community,” said Asst. Superintendent Randy Lords.
Rexburg is consistently ranked on of the top Idaho cities to live in, which makes many wonder why its school district is having a hard time finding teachers.
“We started to really notice the issue about five years ago, starting at the end of the recession,” said Lords.
The need for teachers is so serious that the district is hiring uncertified persons. Candidates with a bachelor’s degree who are willing to complete certification while teaching are being considered.
Idaho lawmakers recently implemented an education career ladder, which helped with salary and leadership opportunities for teachers.
“(It) entices folks to consider teaching, to consider teaching as an occupation, who maybe hadn’t done so before,” said local lawmaker, Wendy Horman.
The minimum salary is now over $30,000 a year. The state also now recognizes master’s degrees for more pay. Horman said the career ladder also provides more resources for districts.
“A provision within the leadership premium, that’s hard to fill. So if you’re a district with a specific position, you can declare it hard to fill, and you can use those teacher leadership funds to help recruit a teacher into your district,” said Horman.
“We need to have the best teachers in every classroom that we can in Idaho and across the nation. We need to change whatever we need to change.”
As Madison searches for five more teachers, district leadership said the goal won’t change.
“(We will) make sure your children don’t get a poor education, because right now we don’t have a certified teacher. Through in-service, training, mentoring, building leadership, to make sure your kids get the best education,” said Lords.
Right now, there are almost 600 uncertified teachers working across the state.
Local News 8/KIDK Eyewitness News reached out to the Idaho Education Association to see what they had to say about the emergency hiring situation. The IEA said it’s sympathetic for those in the district, but it’s not just wages that need to increase.
“No parent wants to see their district go into an emergency hiring situation. So you have to ask yourself, what do we do to improve education in this way? Quality of education begins in the classroom. It begins with the teachers. So when we look at recruiting and retaining teachers, it not only has to do with wages, which we’re still lagging behind our sister states, but also having to do with better working conditions and being treated with respect and professionalism,” said Paul Stark with IEA.
Madison schools aren’t the only ones taking uncertified teachers in our area. American heritage charter school in Idaho Falls is also hiring teachers who are willing to obtain their certification while working.
