As the new school year approaches, districts are still hiring, but not hiring the numbers they have in the past.
Davis School District, as of Aug. 5, had hired 105 teachers, according to an e-mail from the district's human resource department. For the school year 2007-2008, the district hired 375 teachers.
Those being hired are filling a few new positions created by opening a new elementary school, and filling openings created by teachers who have left due to retirement or other reasons.
Davis is not the only one cutting back on hiring this year compared to last year.
Weber School District had hired 85 teachers, as of Aug. 5, and had plans to possibly hire 20 more teachers, said Roger Bailey, human resources director.
Five years ago, the Weber School District hired close to 200 teachers.
Ogden School District has hired 64 teachers with four or five openings still pending, said Brenda Ruffier, the district's human resource director.
Of those, 24 are from out of state, she said.
Ruffier said the district has applicants fill out a questionnaire, with the answers determining whether they get a job interview.
It's the same process that all districts have implemented due to the high number of applicants for each position, officials said.
"We're averaging for elementary teachers 120 to 150 applicants for each opening," Bailey said.
For secondary math teachers and science teachers, Weber district is seeing 35 to 50 applicants for each position, he said.
Bailey said he knows it's a difficult time for those who recently graduated from universities with teaching degrees.
"It's hard to get a job right now, but the economy will turn around and we do have a growth mode in the future," Bailey said.
President Barack Obama signed an emergency spending package that may help Utah school districts hire more teachers before the school year is over. It is unclear how many new teachers that means for Top of Utah school districts. Federal officials estimate that could equal 1,800 more teachers statewide.
What Bailey fears is those with teaching degrees or thinking about going into teaching will get discouraged and go into a different career.
"And we will end up right where we were a few years ago with a teacher shortage," Bailey said.
Bailey said he recommends those who haven't got a job full-time yet get hired as a substitute teacher.
"That way the schools get to know them, the district gets to know them and they have a good connection," Bailey said.
New teachers can expect higher class loads this year than in previous years, said Susan Firmage, president of Davis Education Association.
For the second year in a row, the district had to increase class sizes because of lack of funding from the legislature, she said.
No one is certain if the federal stimulus funds can be used to alleviate class size.
Even though the district had to cut the mentor program, Firmage said, "Colleagues will help those in the departments and in the grade level. We, as a district family, are good at welcoming and helping new teachers."
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