The number of teaching licenses issued in Indiana for the 2013-14 school year was down to 6,174, according to the Indiana Department of Education.
Marc Lotter, the Indiana State Board of Education’s director of external relations, said the overall shortage is the result of a number of issues.
Higher teacher expectations, lower pay, fewer college students studying education, the 2008 recession, retiring baby boomers, education reform and even a lower social status of teachers have all been cited as possible reasons for the shortage.
“There’s not just one single cause,” Lotter said.
Michael Hicks, an economics professor at Ball State University, said he thinks the shortage is simply a reflection of Indiana’s shrinking student enrollment.
He said only one third of the state’s school corporations are growing, while the rest are either shrinking or stagnant.
With fewer students, fewer teachers are needed.
Hicks said the state’s teaching colleges are the ones with the biggest concerns because their enrollment numbers have suffered.
“There are certainly schools having difficulty hiring,” he said, “but teachers’ colleges are facing a crisis because the monopoly they’ve held on teacher enrollment for 30 years has been fractured.”
A budget plan signed by Gov. Mike Pence last May shifted the way money would be distributed to schools across the state.
Under the plan, shrinking schools in urban and rural districts would receive fewer funds, while growing suburban schools would receive more.
Hicks said this sort of legislation could potentially deter teachers from applying for jobs at schools that may end up laying them off within a few years.
The average number of teacher retirements has doubled within recent years, according to the Indiana Public Retirement System.
Accountability for student performance has increased, while pay has not.
A beginning teacher salary is $33,574 in Indiana, according to the National Education Association, which reported that from 2002 to 2012 the average salaries for public school teachers declined 12.3 percent in the state. The nation’s overall average was a decrease of 3.2 percent.
Kathleen Funk, an IU senior studying elementary education and English as a new language, said she’s well aware teachers don’t make a lot of money, but that isn’t stopping her from entering the profession.
“Going into teaching, I’m not really going into it for the money,” she said. “The benefits of teaching are a lot more than getting paid.”
Still, Funk said higher salaries could help combat the teacher shortage across the U.S. Money, though, isn’t the only issue.
“This is a national and even an international issue right now,” Lotter said.
Lotter said he believes the Indiana General Assembly will begin working on the problem.
Before the matter is tackled by state lawmakers, however, Lotter said they must try to gain a better understanding of what’s causing the shortage.
“Let’s get a better handle on what is actually leading to this decline,” he said.
Despite the shortage, Hicks said he believes there will always be people willing to teach.
“It’s unlikely to me that we’re not going to see people drawn into the teaching profession,” Hicks said.
