The number of certified teachers entering the job force in Pennsylvania and the Warren County School District is feeling the effects.

“We are having a hard time finding qualified teachers right now in a number of areas. We used to have a substantial number of applicants for each position, but with the certification numbers dropping statewide, we haven’t had nearly the numbers that we used to,” Director of Administrative Support Services Gary Weber said.

The end result is the district being forced to hire uncertified teachers and seek emergency certifications. Emergency certifications can be issued to a district by the state when a position has been advertised and no qualified, certified applicants can be found. To receive an emergency certification, a candidate must meet all other position eligibility requirements and have at least a bachelor’s degree from a state-approved institute of post-secondary education.

“In order to maintain the class size numbers that we have been used to, we have been forced to hire a large number of uncertified teachers,” Weber said. “In some cases, they could be teachers certified in other content areas or teachers that have had certifications lapse. Unfortunately, we have also had to hire some teachers that do not have teaching certifications and will need to go back to school for degrees in education. Some of those have had great success and are on track to get certification.”

An emergency certification is valid from the first day of the month it is issued until the end of summer school that school year.

According to numbers recently presented to the district board, the school district is currently utilizing more than 50 emergency certifications.

However, that doesn’t mean the district is utilizing that many uncertified teachers. Some of those certifications are being used by teachers already certified and teaching in their subject areas so that they can teach courses in a subject area they are not certified in.

At the same time, ongoing behavioral issues are making finding and keeping teachers difficult, Weber said.

“At the same time that we are trying to find certificated teachers, we have seen a rise in behaviors in the classroom,” he noted. “This makes it that much more difficult to fill the positions and for the person to be successful. It is definitely an area that we have to pay careful attention to.”

It’s not a situation unique to the district.

According to district Director of Curriculum Instruction & Assessment Eric Mineweaser, a conference he recently attended presented data highlighting the issue.

Over the course of a decade, the number of new certified teachers entering the workforce in the state has dropped from more than 17,000 to just over 5,000 in 2023. Meanwhile, emergency certifications issued statewide in the same year totalled more 6,000.

“We had more emergency certifications than new teachers coming out,” Mineweaser said. “That trend doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.”