HAMPTON, Va. — Wednesday night, Hampton City Schools presented their steps to find future educators and keep the ones they already have.
Teacher shortages are a problem facing just about every school system in the country. Educators say they are leaving the profession for a host of reasons, from pay to student behavior.
The National Education Association says 55% of teachers are leaving earlier than planned.
They also say adjusted for inflation, on average, educators are making almost $4,000 less than they did a decade ago.
33 years ago, Rokasha Edmondson told her teacher she wanted to teach in a classroom of her own one day.
"I had a kindergarten teacher that had us create our own visions back in 1990 and she asked us what we want to be when we grew up and I said I wanted to be a teacher," Edmondson said.
Over the last year, teachers from all across Hampton Roads have expressed why educators continue to leave the classroom, but Hampton City Schools wants teachers to stay.
"It is always our goal to be 100% staffed on the first day of school, but as you are also aware, for the last two years, we have not quite made that goal," said Robbin Ruth, executive director of Human Resources.
They’re estimating having around 300 instructional vacancies during this upcoming school year.
"We have increased our dependence on third-party providers to fill classroom positions," she said.
That's something they want to get away from.
To help, school leaders say they want to grow their own teachers by creating scholarship opportunities, hiring associate teachers working to get their licenses and helping pay for the process to actually get their licenses.
They've also started a new recruitment initiative via a digital marketing campaign. They're also adding Associate Teachers, who will be similar to their current Learning Facilitators.
The board announced Wednesday night they are spending $160,000 to establish a Hampton City Schools Future Educators Scholarship. That will go to Hampton students who want to pursue a career in education.
They’ve also already implemented a teacher leadership program and they recognized the 25 teachers who completed five years in the program, including Edmonson and Chris Kraus.
Kraus said he became a teacher because he wants to inspire our future.
"I like ideas, I like growth, I like to stay connected with the next generation," he said.
He said despite change and challenges, he has stayed in the classroom because he feels supported.
"It’s fulfilling if you want to have a perpetual pipeline of students that want to learn from you," he said.
We reached out to schools across Virginia to see how many education majors graduated this year.
James Madison University said more than 400 of their students are eligible for licensure in Virginia.
Old Dominion University wasn't able to give us a specific number but said an average of 1,000 students graduate with an education degree every year, but not all of them go into teaching.
81 education majors at Longwood University will graduate this weekend.
While Norfolk State had 79 education graduates and Hampton University had 13.
For a look at Hampton's complete plan, click here.