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TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — After graduating from law school, Jeff Ludlow felt a pull toward a different career.
"I didn't like what I was seeing in the practice of law," Ludlow said.
While coaching a community college football team in California, he applied for a job as an English teacher at Canyon Ridge High School without a credential.
He was hired 10 days before school started. Now he's working on an online certification program.
Ludlow, also a coach for Canyon Ridge's football team, said he strives to be an accessible, interesting teacher while still covering the basics.
"There have been days that have been frustrating," he said. But other days, he can tell they're learning. "It makes you feel good as a teacher."
Ludlow is one of four teachers under provisional certificates this year in the Twin Falls School District.
That's up from one or two emergency hires in past years.
But other schools around the Magic Valley search hard for instructors. In order to hire an unlicensed one, schools must show that all attempts to hire a certified teacher failed.
Teachers can earn a one-year provisional certificate and must work with a mentor teacher.
"It's really for those emergency situations," said Cina Lackey, certification/professional standards coordinator for the Idaho Department of Education.
But more schools rely on provisional certificates nowadays to ensure they have enough teachers.
EMERGENCY HIRING
In Buhl, finding good candidates for elementary schools was a challenge this summer.
"We had a very limited teacher application pool," Superintendent Ron Anthony said.
Six teachers were hired under provisional certificates. Two are student teachers who are still in college.
They're required to have a mentor, often a retired teacher. "They're not just turned loose in the classroom," Anthony said.
In Jerome, nine teachers have provisional certificates.
"We've had a real difficult time this year trying to find teachers," Superintendent Dale Layne told the Times-News in August.
He cited low salaries, increasing demands and more teachers leaving Idaho.
In Castleford, a rural town with only 320 students, the district didn't make any emergency hires.
"We're kind of lucky, to be honest with you," Superintendent Andy Wiseman said.
But over the years, the applicant pool has dwindled drastically even in Castleford.
A SHRINKING LIST OF APPLICANTS
More than a decade ago, Castleford often received 15 to 20 applicants for an elementary school job.
When a position opened this year, three applied.
"They were all really strong candidates," Wiseman said, but the choices were "pretty limited."
It's especially challenging to fill high school jobs, he said.
Statewide, districts are seeing shrinking applicant pools, agreed Penni Cyr, president of the Idaho Education Association.
Buhl used to get about 12 applicants for every elementary school job. This year, three to four openings drew only six applications, Anthony said. "The last couple of years have been difficult."
Rural districts face special challenges. And Idaho doesn't provide incentives to entice teachers to rural schools.
"I think that's coming at some point," Lackey said.
For larger districts, such as Twin Falls, it's not so tough. The district hired 69 certified teachers and five administrators this year. Also, 13 full-time and one part-time job were created at elementary schools due to enrollment growth.
"Our applicant pool was pretty healthy," said Human Resources Manager Sonia DeLeon.
But applicants haven't kept pace with demand, Human Resources Director Shannon Swafford said.
Twin Falls works with university teaching programs to recruit graduates and with student teachers to offer jobs once they graduate, DeLeon said.
In Cassia County, Burley High and other schools also scramble to find teachers.
"We had more open positions in the middle of August than we've ever had," said district spokeswoman Debbie Critchfield.
The chase to attract and keep a teacher is more competitive than ever, said Critchfield, a member of the Idaho Board of Education.
An opening for an agriculture teacher at Burley High was particularly hard to fill. The district finally found Randall Apgood, a first-year teacher.
After earning a college degree, he worked in agriculture but wanted a new career and earned a teaching credential.
"I always had in the back of my mind this is the direction I wanted to go," Apgood said.
But not enough people want to teach, some education officials say.
A TEACHER SHORTAGE
Fewer people are applying for teaching certificates, Idaho Education Association data show.
In the 2007-08 school year, 1,184 state certificates were issued. But that number dropped to 866 for 2013-14.
Far fewer teachers are coming from other states, too, dropping from 898 certificates in 2007 to 68 last year.
The bottom line: Idaho has a teacher shortage, Cyr said.
Wiseman said more students need to be funneled into teacher education. "It just doesn't seem like the universities are getting them."
But enrollment in Idaho State University's Twin Falls programs has increased. Students can earn a bachelor's degree in early childhood or elementary education.
And graduates typically stay in the Magic Valley to work, Director Chris Vaage told the Times-News in August.
Elementary education major Heather Reed said she and her classmates simply want to help students. "We're not out there to make money."
She expects to start student teaching in January and graduate from college in May.
"Looking back, I had great teachers I want to mimic."
Idaho education is moving in a good direction, she said, as lawmakers and communities see the need for reform.
LOW PAY, TIGHT CERTIFICATION STANDARDS
These days, a teaching job "isn't as glamorous. Young kids are going, 'Why would I want to do that?'" said Anthony, of Buhl.
And, "We don't pay enough compared with surrounding states."
Idaho teaching salaries averaged $50,945 last school year, the National Education Association reported.
Compare that with average salaries of $70,126 in California, $58,236 in Washington, $57,910 in Wyoming, $57,391 in Nevada, and $52,236 in Washington last year.
"We do lose some teachers to a higher-paying job," Lackey said.
The state Board of Education has proposed a certification rule that will be sent to legislators in January.
It would create three teaching licenses and is intended to interlock with a career ladder compensation model, which would raise salaries starting next year.
Idaho is competing with states that pay teachers a professional wage, Cyr said.
"Here in Idaho, we're still struggling with figuring out what that is."
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Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com
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