HARRISBURG — When D’Arcy McQuoid was hired to teach special education in Philadelphia public schools 32 years ago, it took a year for the district to find a place for her in a classroom.

Early career teachers today “can’t believe it” when she tells them about that wait.

Philadelphia and other school districts statewide are struggling to find enough certified teachers to fill vacancies, a trend that advocates for students say is diminishing the quality of kids’ education.

Why fewer people are becoming certified teachers in Pennsylvania is complex, but school officials, educators, and experts offered theories from inequity that leads to low salaries to long commute times and undesirable work locations in rural communities.

Advocates are currently pushing state lawmakers to continue sending more money to the state’s poorest schools and provide more funding for student-teacher stipends.

Teachers get their certifications after completing a preparation program and a student-teaching requirement. The credential ensures that they have enough experience and training before entering the classroom.

A recent report from Penn State education researchers found that the number of teaching certificates issued by the commonwealth dropped by more than 60% between the 2010-11 and 2023-24 school years.

When districts can’t find enough certified teachers to fill vacancies from retirement and regular turnover, districts use emergency permits. These permits are less rigorous than teaching certifications, requiring only a bachelor’s degree, and the state issues them only when schools can find no fully qualified applicants.

The Penn State report found that’s increasingly the case, and during the 2021-22 school year, amid the pandemic, the number of emergency permits the state issued surpassed the number of normal certifications.

The number has remained higher ever since, particularly in districts with concentrations of poverty and students of color.

This is a big concern for public education advocates. Emergency certifications were never meant to be in widespread use, said Christopher Lilienthal, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Education Association, a teachers union.

“It went from being a stopgap thing that gets used very rarely to something that school districts and school entities have had to use consistently to fill these positions because of this shortage,” he said.

Ed Fuller, an associate professor at Penn State’s College of Education and a co-author of the report, said all teacher shortages are negatively associated with student outcomes. He also stressed that shortages can have a negative economic impact on the state.

“We know when kids have lower achievement, they’re less likely to generate tax revenue, they’re more likely to require more state support in the health system, they’re more likely to end up in the criminal justice system,” he said. “So when we’re not providing all of our children quality teachers every single year … in fact, we’re losing money. We’re losing money from the state.”

Teacher shortages across the state vary widely, but they are heavily concentrated in urban and rural counties, according to Fuller.

Districts with higher rates of poverty tend to be the ones with worse shortages, he said, and those with high numbers of students of color also tend to suffer larger shortages.

Inequalities in Pennsylvania’s public school districts are a longstanding concern among educators and advocates.

State lawmakers are under a 2023 court order to fix what a judge called an unconstitutionally inequitable public education system. Last year, they made their first big attempt at rectifying it, sending $500 million to the commonwealth’s poorest districts.

Democratic lawmakers in the state House and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro have proposed a similar investment in this year’s budget, which is due June 30. But Republicans, who control the state Senate, have not committed to the spending.

Education advocates told Spotlight PA they are optimistic about proposed increases to education funding. Along with the extra money for poor schools, Shapiro has proposed doubling student-teacher stipends to $40 million, according to the budget plan.

The program, now in its first year, currently provides $10,000 stipends to student-teachers on a first-come, first-served basis.

“If this program continues, I would be shocked if we did not see a dramatic uptick in the number of college students coming out of college and getting their first-time certificates for being an educator,” said Aaron Chapin, PSEA’s president.

A big district with unique problems

The School District of Philadelphia, which serves Pennsylvania’s biggest city, enrolls nearly 200,000 students and operates 331 schools.

The Penn State report found severe teacher shortages in the district, and also gave it low marks for teacher quality and levels of attrition. In the current school year, there were 644 vacancies across the district, and last school year, 23% of teachers had emergency permits, according to the report.

Laura Boyce, executive director of the teacher advocacy nonprofit, Teach Plus Pennsylvania, said underfunding could be the cause of a lot of these issues. But she emphasized that more research is needed to fully understand the scope of the problem.

“The districts that are suffering the most from the teacher shortage are those that have the largest adequacy gaps, that are the most underfunded by the state,” Boyce said.

An adequacy gap is a concept state lawmakers introduced to address the 2023 court ruling that found Pennsylvania hadn’t invested enough money in poor school districts. Defined as the difference between the amount a district spends per student and the amount that the district would need to spend to serve each child at an acceptable level, the metric now informs new education spending.

Lawmakers have estimated that Philadelphia’s school district has the biggest adequacy gap in the state, at more than $1.2 billion total.

Boyce said adequacy gaps lead to districts offering lower teacher salaries and having poorer working conditions, which make it difficult for them to compete for teachers.

In addition to the larger national trends she named — declining prestige of the teaching profession, student behavioral issues, and teacher attrition — she identified inequity as a core concern. “If you have just a reduced supply of teachers, not all districts are experiencing it the same, and those with the fewest resources are going to be the ones who are having the hardest time both recruiting and retaining teachers,” Boyce said.

Shortages have created a new reliance on emergency certified teachers in Philadelphia. As a potential solution, some school districts are looking for ways to encourage emergency certified teachers to get more certifications, Boyce said.

The issue is urgent. Students internalize staff shortages and feel like they are part of the problem when the real issue is systemic, according to Kate Sundeen, a teacher at the Academy at Palumbo high school and political liaison for the School District of Philadelphia.

“As much as we say, ‘It’s not about you’ to the students, the students are like, ‘Well, then why isn’t it changing?’” Sundeen said.

Rural counties have lots of land, few teachers

Rural counties also feel the strain of teacher shortages, Fuller said.

Warren County School District, located in northwestern Pennsylvania, enrolls nearly 3,800 students and operates nine schools. According to the Penn State report, during the period reviewed, Warren, like Philadelphia, had a severe teacher shortage, lower quality teachers, and high levels of attrition.

This school year, there are only four vacancies across the district, but as of last year — the most recent year with complete data — 22% of teachers had emergency permits.

Shortages particularly hurt technical and special education, as well as advanced math and science courses, according to Gary Weber, the superintendent of Warren County School District. The district encompasses almost the entire county.

Weber thinks the shortage issue dates all the way back to the 10% cut to the state’s basic education budget under Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in 2010, in the midst of a serious post-recession shortfall.

The move, he said, caused his district to furlough many teachers. He thinks the state then saw a trickle-down effect in which Pennsylvania colleges and universities stopped offering teaching programs because there were fewer available jobs across the commonwealth.

Weber said it’s especially difficult to find teachers certified in specialized subjects such as physics.

“We used to have, 20 years ago, 50, 60, 70, 80 applicants. We’re lucky if we have 10 at this time. In many cases, we might have two or three. And in some cases, we’re going out and trying to find people,” he said.

Fuller said rural school districts like Warren often face recruiting challenges because they have fewer people around.

“Unless a district is relatively close to prep programs producing a fair amount of teachers, then it is hard to find enough teachers to hire. Research shows that teachers work where they went to high school or where they went to college,” he said.

Teachers in big rural counties also struggle with commute times. Warren’s single primary school district, for instance, covers almost the entirety of the county’s nearly 900 square miles. Schools are spaced out around the district, so even teachers living inside county lines may have to travel long distances for work.

Rural Blair County has similar staffing problems, according to teachers who shared their experiences with Spotlight PA.

While Penn State’s study found that Blair County’s overall teacher shortage wasn’t as bad as others — it was rated as having a “high” shortage as opposed to a “severe” one, like Philly and Warren — its supply of new teachers, teacher quality, and rate of attrition all got low marks.

Dan Drumm, a music teacher in the county’s Spring Cove School District, said he’s wary of encouraging his elementary students to become teachers.

Students aren’t oblivious to debates over educational politics, testing, expenses, safety, and other issues, Drumm explained.

“It’s the culmination of all these things together that make the profession undesirable for a lot of people,” he said.

As a potential solution, some schools are starting “Grow-your-own” programs to get high school students interested in the profession.

“You are attracting those who are already in the community, already connected to schools, and creating high-quality, low-cost pathways for them into the profession,” Boyce said of the initiative.

Some schools also offer formal pathways, like Career and Technical Education programs, for students interested in becoming teachers.

Other schools take a more homespun approach.

Social studies teacher Joe Logan, who has worked at Central High School in the Spring Cove district for 24 years, first ran his “Future Teachers Club” in the 2021-22 school year. In meetings, Logan talks with students about teaching, getting an education degree, and local opportunities. He started the club to replicate the inspiration he got from his high school teachers.

“I’d like to be that same kind of catalyst for the students that are looking at getting into education,” he said.