North Dakota’s teacher shortage creating ‘imminent peril’ as board seeks emergency rule

FARGO — The agency tasked with licensing teachers in North Dakota has made an emergency appeal to the state relating to an urgent teacher shortage.

The request from the Education Standards and Practices Board, or ESPB, approved in a special meeting on Thursday, July 27, said the shortage creates “imminent peril” that threatens public welfare of the education system in the 2023-2024 school year.

The urgency of the teacher shortage has increased in recent months, wrote Becky Pitkin, executive director of ESPB.

Not only rural school districts, but larger districts including Fargo, West Fargo and Bismarck are being impacted with higher than usual numbers of teacher vacancies and in some cases, fewer applicants than in years past.

The board is asking Gov. Doug Burgum for emergency rules allowing certain college students who’ve finished their education coursework to be the “teacher of record” during their one semester of student teaching.

More simply put, they’d be the only teacher in the classroom while student teaching, but would have a designated mentor in the building they could go to with questions.

Under current state law, a student teacher must have another teacher in the classroom to provide feedback and guidance.

Pitkin acknowledged such a move wouldn’t “open the floodgates” for more teachers, but could be a small step in making the shortage more manageable.

“We just are really convinced that we need to maintain high standards wherever we can, and if this provides for a few that universities have deemed ready, then okay,” she said.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler said while the change could be a short term fix, she’s concerned about possible impacts on teacher recruitment.

“We could lose this whole crop of teachers if we don’t give them support,” she said.

Still, Baesler said she’d stand by whatever ESPB staff and the board decided.

Not many of the students coming out of college and aiming to be a teacher would qualify for the rule change. Under the proposal laid out by the ESPB, there would be stipulations.

The student teacher must have completed all of their college coursework, must receive a positive evaluation from a field or classroom experience and get a letter of recommendation from their university or college.

“The universities are really going to have to decide who are high fliers so to speak, that could do this,” Pitkin said.

In addition, the school district at which they’re seeking a job would have to submit a letter indicating they were not able to find a regularly licensed teacher, and must show evidence of an onsite teacher who could collaborate with that student teacher.

The request for this emergency rule is now in Burgum’s hands. A spokesperson said the governor has received it and the office is working to collect data and information related to it, but there’s no timeline yet for a response.

The rule change would have a sunset clause, making it effective through June 30, 2025.

Time is of the essence, board members said.

With the first day of school in Fargo just four weeks away on Aug. 28, the Fargo Public Schools website still lists dozens of teaching vacancies.

There are 37 teaching vacancies district wide, with the biggest challenge coming in the area of special education, said Fargo Public Schools spokesperson AnnMarie Campbell.

The district is offering an additional $6,000 in annual compensation for special education teachers, she said.

As for paraeducators, there are 36 openings in Fargo schools; of those, 22 special education paras are still needed.

A conflict over elementary teachers rather than paras having to supervise recess was a major barrier

for the two sides negotiating teacher contracts in Fargo Public Schools this year.

Teachers maintain that duty takes away some of their time needed for lesson planning and next day preparation, while the school board maintains recess is not an “extra duty.”

The contract talks officially went to impasse on July 1, with each side having to hire a mediator.

Fargo Education Association President Grant Kraft said there’s been no movement yet, as the mediation panel is still being assembled.

Campbell said the Fargo district is hiring new people every day, and using social media, university partnerships and other avenues to recruit more applicants.

At West Fargo Public Schools, hiring is also happening on a daily basis, but at least 21 teacher openings remain unfilled to date, including elementary, secondary and special education teachers, the district said.

Like Fargo, West Fargo is using social media and university partnerships, as well as TV ads, billboards and referral bonuses.

ESPB board member Patti Stedman, who is also president of the West Fargo School Board, pushed back on some who said the emergency rule proposal needed to be delayed for more discussion.

“Timing wise, if we want any hope for this to get done for fall, every day that we wait… I don’t know that another week is going to change most of our opinions,” Stedman said.

At least one school district in the western part of the state is in rougher shape in terms of teacher vacancies.

Williston Public Schools has 64 open teaching positions, according to the ESPB letter to Burgum.

Bismarck Public Schools has 17 teacher vacancies and not a sufficient number of applicants, while Dickinson Public Schools has 12 teacher openings with no applicants.

Pitkin said a number of higher education institutions with student teachers ready for the classroom this fall have already been approached by school districts requesting to have them work alone in the classroom.

They included University of North Dakota, University of Jamestown, Valley City State University, Minot State University, Dickinson State University, University of Mary, Trinity Bible College and Sitting Bull College, she said.