© 2024 KOSU
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Oklahoma's Teacher Shortage Is Getting Worse

Flickr / wfryer
A classroom at Edmond North High School.

A new survey shows what many state leaders feared: Oklahoma’s teacher shortage is getting worse.

As of August 1, there were still 500 unfilled teaching positions across the state. That's according to a survey conducted by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association.

Shawn Hime, the Executive Director of the OSSBA, says his agency talked to more than 300 school districts in order to complete the survey.

"Far more schools said that they were going to have to use emergency certificates. Far more schools said they were having to raise class sizes, and more schools said they were gonna have to eliminate courses or positions just because they could not find a teacher."

Hime says schools have eliminated nearly 500 teaching positions since last year.

In order to turn the situation around, Hime says lawmakers need to come up with a long-term funding plan for teacher pay raises, and education in general.

Emily Wendler was KOSU's education reporter from 2015 to 2019.
KOSU is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.
Related Content