Section 3. Elementary and Secondary Teachers: Introduction

Between fall 2007, the last year of actual public school data, and fall 2019, the number of teachers in elementary and secondary schools is projected to rise. The numbers of both public and private school teachers are projected to grow. The pupil/teacher ratios are projected to decrease in both public and private schools. The annual number of new teacher hires is projected to increase in both public and private schools.

Factors affecting the projections

The projections of the number of elementary and secondary teachers are related to projected levels of enrollments and education revenue receipts from state sources per capita. For more details, see appendixes A.0 and A.3.

The projections do not take into account possible changes in the number of teachers due to the effects of government policies.

The overall elementary and secondary pupil/teacher ratio and pupil/teacher ratios for public and private schools were computed based on elementary and secondary enrollment and the number of classroom teachers by control of school.

A teacher is considered to be a new teacher hire for a sector (public or private) for a given year if the teacher teaches in that sector that year but had not taught in that sector in the previous year. A teacher who moves from teaching in one sector to the other sector is considered a new teacher hire, but a teacher who moves from one school to another school in the same sector is not considered a new teacher hire. It is important to note that these projections measure the total number of teacher hires, including those hired to replace teachers retiring or leaving the teaching profession permanently or temporarily. Hence, the new teacher hire projections should not be interpreted as predicting teacher shortages.