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"It's just the tip of the iceberg," Orangeburg Consolidated School District 4 Superintendent Dr. Darrell Johnson says about the growing teacher shortage in the state.

The retirement of baby boomer teachers, the stress of the rigorous accountability standards and the lack of college students desiring to become educators are among some of the factors people in the education community list as reasons for the decline in the number of teachers.

However, the South Carolina-based Center of Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement has reason to believe the shortage is not as bad as it might seem.

CERRA spokesman Mychal Frost says the number of vacant teacher positions in the state was less in number in 2007 compared to the previous year by almost 200 jobs. In fact, the total number of teachers hired statewide and the number of teachers employed after graduating from in-state colleges and universities both increased during that same period by several hundred, according to CERRA data.

Those increases occurred despite the rapidly growing number of baby boomers in the teaching profession going into retirement.

However, Frost admits teacher shortages are still a problem, not just in the state but nationally. How can it be solved?

"That's the million-dollar question," Frost said.

Local districts are looking to answer that question by not only looking outside the state but outside the country for teachers.

Johnson's district hired nine teachers from foreign nations this year. He also sent a team to Midwestern states like Ohio and Michigan to recruit individuals to fill in the gaps. That trip netted five new hires.

OCSD 5 is deploying similar techniques to combat the teacher shortages.

"We're in pretty good shape. ... it's still a struggle," OCSD 5 spokesman Greg Carson said.

Carson said the district is actively recruiting teachers through extensive advertising, job fairs at universities across the state and elevating teaching assistants to become full-time teachers.

OCSD 5 held a job fair this past Saturday, attempting to attract teachers for next year.

Carson cited math, science and foreign languages as areas where the district has to place special effort to attract teaching candidates.

CERRA is using a teaching cadet program for high school seniors in hopes of getting them interested in education.

If a student decides to go that route in college, they might be eligible for the state's Teaching Fellows Program, which applies $6,000 in financial support for each year of college. By enrolling in the program, the student agrees to teach in the state for four years following graduation.

Frost said other incentives being used are student loan forgiveness and lower interest rates on student loans for teachers who agree to teach in rural areas.

Another avenue to get new teachers is through the Program of Alternative Certificate in Education. That program allows college graduates who did not major in education to gain certification in a content area through a series of seminars and workshops.

Teacher pay, or the lack thereof, has long been considered to be a predominant factor in why there aren't enough teachers.

To remedy that, OCSD 4's board passed a new teacher incentive plan last Tuesday which would pay teachers coming from out of the area a one-time signing bonus of $3,000 and $750 to relocate. Johnson said a performance incentive package for teachers currently in the district is also in the works.

He noted that one of the unfortunate side effects of the shortage is that districts in the state have to compete with each other.

Currently, OCSD 5 offers a $2,500 signing bonus to any new teacher coming to the district. That signing bonus is contingent on a teacher staying with the district for a two-year period.

"Districts have to do what they feel is necessary to fill the teacher needs we have," Carson said.

The three Orangeburg County school districts have an unwritten arrangement not to offer signing bonuses to teachers coming from another district in the county, according to Johnson.

Both Carson and Johnson said the strict standards of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and the state's Education Accountability Act could have an impact on teacher shortages.

With all the mandates placed on teachers, coupled with the pressure to meet those standards, some teachers find they make more money and have less stress in the corporate world, Carson said. However, he notes that those in the teaching profession are truly passionate about molding young minds.

"That's a plus for us," said Carson, who said the district will continue to meet their teacher's needs and wants.

Johnson cited the rigorous ce.jpgication required to teach at different grade levels as a possible factor in the shortage. Previously, elementary school teachers could also teach middle school grades. But now under NCLB, they can only teach kindergarten through second grade. If those ce.jpgication standards were removed, it would be much easier to meet the teaching needs of elementary and middle school grades, Johnson said.

"We've created this monster, and now we have to put our minds together to solve it," he said.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060.

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