(The Center Square) – North Dakota will temporarily allow school districts to expand the use of student teachers to address teacher shortages, Gov. Doug Burgum announced this week.
The governor granted the emergency rulemaking request from the North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board, giving districts more flexibility with their student teachers.
Burgum called the move “a Band-Aid,” not a permanent solution. Plans are in the works for a statewide task force to focus on teacher recruitment and retention strategies.
The task force, which the governor said would be deployed through executive order, will work to identify policies and practices to boost North Dakota’s pipeline of educators.
“State leaders, superintendents, school boards, and administrators all recognize that the pipeline for teacher applicants has severely diminished and that focused district-by-district strategies to recruit and retain talent and inspire our young people to enter the education profession are essential,” Burgum said.
The state’s teacher shortage is not affecting all districts equally, according to the governor.
Of North Dakota’s 167 public school districts, more than 75 have all teaching positions filled for the 2023-2024 school year, according to data from ESPB.
Over 160 job listings are listed under “teacher” on the official job vacancy site of the North Dakota Council of Educational Leadership. However, some job listings are for multiple positions, making the number of positions needing to be filled statewide likely higher.
“This emergency action simply gives local school boards and administrators additional flexibility and retains local control in determining how to fill teacher openings with the best interests of students in mind,” Burgum said.
North Dakota schools have shortages in science, career and technical education, and art and music education, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s tracking of teacher shortage areas. The state is also lacking enough school counselors, the data showed.
North Dakota is ranked 26th in the nation for its average teacher starting salary of $41,587, according to the National Education Association’s 2023 review of educator pay. The state’s ranking dips lower for its average teacher salary of $55,666.
The national average for public school teacher salaries was $66,745 during the 2021-2022 school year, which represented a 2% increase from the year before, according to the NEA.
However, adjusted for inflation, the NEA said the average teacher salary has declined by 6.4% over the last ten years.
