EBENSBURG — Pennsylvania needs an additional 8,469 qualified teachers to fill current vacancies and positions now being filled by emergency certified teachers. That doesn’t take into consideration vacancies brought on by retirements and teachers moving on to other jobs.

It’s a problem that has stymied school districts for years.

According to Amy Morton, senior policy design specialist for the National Center on Education and the Economy, the number of certified teachers produced by Pennsylvania’s education programs has fallen by 75% in the last decade.

During a roundtable discussion moderated by Morton on Thursday, participants learned that Pennsylvania used to export teachers to other states because there were far more applicants than available job positions.

Today, though, school districts don’t have nearly enough applicants to fill their vacancies and can’t compete with neighboring states that pay better, she said.

In Maryland, for example, teachers will earn a salary of at least $60,000 beginning in 2026 after the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future legislation was passed, Morton said.

The hourlong discussion held at the Central Cambria High School included student teachers, local superintendents, higher education professionals and workforce leaders who were looking for ideas to bolster teacher ranks.

Jason Moore, superintendent at Central Cambria, said he has seen firsthand the decline in the number of teachers available for open positions.

Moore, who is also the chief school administrator of Admiral Peary Area Vocational-Technical School, said the district would have received nearly 120 applicants for a posted elementary position just a decade ago.

Today, though, Central Cambria might get just 15 to 20 candidates for the same posted vacancy.

The teacher shortage is most felt in special education and the STEM fields — secondary sciences and mathematics, he said.

“We’re concerned that we’re not going to have qualified staff members maybe 10 to 15 years in the future,” Moore said.

According to Moore, someone can go into the trade professions right out of high school and probably make twice as much money as a starting teacher in Pennsylvania.

Douglas Ledney, Pitt-Johnstown’s director of field practicums and clinical experiences, said that aspect has become more of a challenge for attracting prospective students to education programs.

“You have to do this because of the love you have for being in the classroom for the students who need that extra attention and need that extra help,” Ledney said.

Financial challenges

Central Cambria is fortunate that the district can offer competitive salaries to recruit teachers from other districts, but it creates a “vicious cycle” in which those districts have to seek out emergency certified teachers to fill their vacancies, he said.

The same cycle occurs whenever qualified teachers leave public school districts for charter schools that offer more money, Moore said.

Ken Kerchenske, superintendent at Cambria Heights, said his district is fortunate because a lot of graduates aspire to become teachers.

But Cambria Heights also has a lot of graduates who want to enter various medical fields, and the district can’t foster the students’ passions if it doesn’t have strong science and math departments, he said.

Enrollment in Admiral Peary Area Vo-Tech’s aspiring educators’ program, which allows high school students to earn 24 credits from Saint Francis University, has already doubled for next school year, instructor Jackie Myers said.

“It’s very impressive what these students know already about education,” Myers said. “They are not going to have the debt that they would if they went into higher education” without first getting ahead on their studies through the program.

Rebuilding pipeline

There are reasons to be optimistic about the future of teaching, Morton said, noting student teacher stipends can play a critical role in rebuilding the teacher pipeline.

In the last few years, the general assembly and the Shapiro administration have “taken steps forward” in addressing the teacher shortage by creating the PA Student Teacher Support program and funding it with $20 million, Morton said.

The program awards $10,000 stipends to student teachers who meet program requirements.

“It’s a major step forward in removing financial barriers that deter potential great teachers from the profession,” Morton said.

Two recent graduates of Pitt-Johnstown’s early childhood education program, Liza Spangler and Julia Shima, both spoke about their desire to become teachers and the financial difficulties they face.

Spangler said she had her computer set and ready for when the program’s application was released in April. Although it took some time to receive a response, Spangler received the stipend, which made “a huge difference” for her to focus on her students’ needs instead of working two jobs, which she said she did throughout her college experience.

“I wanted to make a difference in students’ lives,” Spangler said. “These students come from many different backgrounds and whether they’re coming to school to get an education or coming to school to get love, you’re making a difference with them every single day.”

Shima’s outcome with the program’s application was less than desirable.

She also had her computer ready the day the application became available. However, she didn’t receive the stipend because her signature wasn’t typed in cursive font.

“That was a little bit defeating, knowing that I didn’t get the stipend,” Shima said, adding she has “great support” from her family that allowed her to continue student teaching.

“If that happened to somebody else and they didn’t have that kind of support at home, I know that can be super, super defeating,” Shima said.

Shima said being a teacher is “the most fulfilling job that anyone can have.”

Moore said he thinks the stipend should be available to every student who’s in an approved program.

“It shouldn’t be like trying to get Taylor Swift tickets in order to get your $10,000 because for some people, it means the difference of doing your program or not,” Moore said.

Kerchenske said stipends are also vital for aspiring support personnel, like certified school nurses and psychologists.

“It always baffles me that somebody could be an ICU nurse for two years and then they’re going to take a pay cut if they want to become a school certified nurse, and they also have to go back to school and take additional credits,” Kerchenske said.

“These stipends would be important for those personnel as well because they’re really going to have to get hit financially to pursue those careers,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.