Mississippi Teacher Shortage

Officials say Mississippi is facing a teacher shortage that could worsen next year when 6,000 veteran educators become eligible to retire.

By: WKRG Staff | WKRG-TV
Published: December 04, 2008

» Comments | Post a Comment

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Officials say Mississippi is facing a
teacher shortage that could worsen next year when 6,000 veteran
educators become eligible to retire.
With 2,397 teachers in Mississippi in the classroom on emergency
licenses, some are teaching subjects different from their field of
expertise.
Cindy Coon, bureau director of the office of educator licensure
for the Department of Education, says the number of emergency
teacher licenses is used to gauge how many vacancies have not been
filled by a certified teacher.
The high number of emergency licenses is why the state
Department of Education is putting increasing emphasis on
recruiting and retaining teachers. Official say those with
emergency licenses have the potential to attain full certification
within one to three years.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)