Colorado is no stranger to educator shortages. As many districts will attest, the steady decline of enrollment in colleges of education combined with the COVID-19 pandemic and existing shortages has only exacerbated the challenge.

From February to May 2020 — the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — the U.S. economy lost roughly 9% of total public education jobs, which amounts to an estimated 730,000 jobs, according to Colorado Department of Education Chief Talent Officer Margarita​​​​ Tovar.

“Colorado was not immune to this loss,” Tovar wrote in an email to the Steamboat Pilot & Today. “In 2019, Colorado had 59,989 teachers. In 2023, the state counted 55,358 teachers … The state, with help from the legislature, is working on incentives to increase the number of people entering the profession.”

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Both the Colorado Department of Education and individual districts have implemented several new strategies to make up for the loss in staffing and to aid educators in returning to the workforce. One of those strategies was launching Colorado’s Educator Recruitment and Retention program.

The state’s Educator Recruitment and Retention program was started in 2021 by Senate Bill 21-185. Since then, it has provided qualified applicants with up to $10,000 in financial assistance toward their education studies, with 2022-23 being the first full school year for which the program provided financial assistance.

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The legislature appropriates $5 million annually to the Colorado Department of Education for tuition assistance of up to $10,000 per qualified applicant.

To qualify for the program, applicants must be enrolled in an approved educator preparation program and commit to teaching in a Colorado public school located in a “shortage area” for a minimum of three years. 

If an applicant is accepted into the program and awarded funding but does not complete the required three of teaching in a shortage area — which can be completed by teaching in one or several districts — they must return the funds to the Colorado Department of Education.

Educator shortages hit Northwest Colorado

The Colorado Department of Education’s 2023-2024 Educator Shortage Report states that over 8,000 teaching and special services providers needed to be hired for the 2023-24 school year, which represents roughly 12% of all teaching and 15% of all special service provider positions in the state. This included nearly 500 principal/assistant principal positions. 

Of the 6,911 teaching positions to hire, 25% were filled through specific shortage mechanisms identified by the department, including hiring long-term substitutes, retired educators, alternative licensure program candidates and emergency authorizations holders. Though many were filled by traditional candidates, 639 positions remained unfilled. 

“When you don’t have licensed teachers and you have substitutes in the classroom who aren’t licensed and maybe don’t have (a degree) in education or in that subject area, there’s a lot of burden on the veteran teachers to support them,” Garfield 16 Superintendent Jennifer Baugh said. “If you’re an elementary teacher, you have your classroom and your kids to worry about, but you might have the two people next to you.”

Of the nearly 500 principal and assistant principal positions to hire, six remained unfilled for the entire school year, while 24 others were also filled through a shortage mechanism. 

Educator shortages on the Western Slope have increased dramatically over the past three years, with small rural districts struggling more than non-rural districts. During the 2023-24 academic year, nearly half of Western Slope school districts were reporting a minimum of 5% shortage in positions.

Moffat County RE-1, Meeker RE-1, Hayden RE-1, De Beque and West Grand school districts all reported higher than 10% position shortages, with South Routt RE-3 sitting at a low 21.14%. For West Grand’s 57 available positions, 8.5 of them (14.9%) went unfilled for the 2023-24 academic year while serving its population of 411 students. 

This is a stark contrast from the 2020-21 academic year, where roughly half of Northwestern Colorado school districts were reporting zero shortages. The district experiencing the most shortages at the time was Garfield County School District 16 at 16 unfilled positions, or 13.41%. 

Roughly three years later, however, Garfield 16 is one of the few districts to have mostly — if not fully — recovered from this pandemic-induced educator shortage, as the district reported zero unfilled teaching positions out of 130 for the 2023-24 school year. 

“One of the things that we did (before) was heavily recruit from out of state, and we’ve shifted to recruiting more in state, locally or from adjacent states, because we found that a lot of folks that moved here from the East Coast … got homesick and they just wanted to go back home (during the pandemic)” Baugh said.

Some of the district’s available positions were initially filled by long-term substitutes and other temporary educators, though over time many have taken advantage of educational opportunities to acquire their teaching credentials and decided to stay as full-time educators.

“In some ways, people realized a career path that they didn’t think was for them because of this opportunity, which is great,” Baugh said. “We’re always trying to get more teachers.”

Garfield 16, identified as a rural district by the department of education, staffed two Educator Recruitment and Retention program participants during the 2022-23 academic year, according to the program’s annual report.

Baugh said the district has also received significant assistance from a new apprenticeship program led by Colorado Mountain College and the Department of Labor. The program allows the district’s paraprofessionals and substitute teachers to get their bachelor’s in education through CMC. So far, six Garfield 16 educators have been accepted.

She added that many of the educators studying through CMC have been encouraged to apply to the Educator Recruitment and Retention program.

“It’s been shared with them … that there are funds available if you qualify to pretty much cover all your educational expenses and you can continue to work while you’re in this program,” Baugh said. “We’re trying to create our own pipeline of folks that are already working with kids. They know us, they know our community, we know them.”

Financial assistance program sees more applicants in 2024

Through the program, $5.2 million in financial assistance was awarded to 699 educators for the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to Tovar.

Tovar said that in the 2023-24 school year, 32% of the program’s participants filled positions in rural school districts, 20% in rural districts and 12% in small rural districts throughout 21 educator shortage areas. Nearly 23% of financial aid recipients filled special education positions, the highest percentage in the program.

“The Educator Recruitment and Retention Financial Assistance Program has proven to be effective in addressing Colorado’s educator shortages,” Tovar wrote. “By providing financial support to educators for their preparation programs, the program reduces the financial barriers to entering the teaching profession, particularly in high-need areas, including rural school districts.”

The department estimates that at least 40,000 individuals received information about the program during the 2023-24 school year.

The first year of retention data available for the program shows that 98% of educators teaching in rural school districts were retained. Meanwhile, a department-administered survey to program recipients and agencies showed that over 92% of recipients reported the financial assistance positively impacted their careers, according to the program’s 2022-23 report.

Nearly half of the survey respondents said they were considering dropping out or delaying their educator preparation before receiving financial aid from the program. Roughly 41% said they would not have become an educator without it.

“I think the Department of Education is really wise … to encourage people to go into education that might not have thought about that as their first career path,” Baugh said. “Investing in the people that are working with the students is the best thing you can do as a leader.”

Who qualifies for the Educator Recruitment and Retention program?

Applicants meeting the eligibility criteria must be enrolled in a Colorado-approved traditional or alternative educator preparation program, or an institute of higher education for applicants pursuing a CTE credential, and meet at least one of the following requirements: 

• The applicant must have a bachelor’s or higher degree from a regionally accredited college or university. 
• The applicant must have secured employment as an alternative teacher or temporary educator in a shortage area or be currently employed as a paraprofessional in a Colorado school district, charter school or BOCES. 
• The applicant must have secured a position as a CTE instructor in a rural district. 

The application deadline is Sept. 30. To apply for the program, visit cde.state.co.us/educatortalent/errprogram#ApplicationProcess.