As school administrators start looking ahead to the 2023-2024 academic year, California’s teacher shortage may be worsening again in many areas. But not in Nevada County. Schools Superintendent Scott Lay says they’ve actually seen a slight uptick in credentialled instructors, after COVID impacts meant a number of early retirements. He says some positions had been vacant for up to a year, although mainly in specialty jobs…

click to listen to Scott Lay

Meanwhile, the annual state report says there were three-thousand fewer teacher credentials issued for the 2021-2022 school year, the latest numbers available. And the shortage could mean schools needing to hire more people on emergency-style permits that don’t require them to complete training. But Lay says staffing is stable in Nevada County and he’s not actually sure why…

click to listen to Scott Lay

But elsewhere in the state, elementary schools, which mostly employ teachers with multiple-subject credentials, may feel the shortage the most, according to the report. It says those types of credentials have dropped 25-percent. For special education, it’s a 12-percent drop, and it’s 7-percent for single-subject credentials.