[ktsmith]

I didn't see it mentioned in the article but most of the job openings are not for class room teachers but special education and ESL (English as a second language). That means you have to have special endorsements or licensing to hold those positions. My wifes district is laying off teachers this year due to budget shortfalls yet there are still job openings. They are just all special education positions.

There are two reasons there's lots of special education positions open. The first is that many teachers don't have the necessary endorsements. The second is that many teachers have zero desire to get the endorsements. Special education in many schools is underfunded and under supported. In our overzealous attempt to prevent peoples children from being labeled as different we've hamstrung the programs. Then you have the mainstreaming of severely dysfunctional children in order to make them feel normal. This can cause greater problems for those children and negatively impact the education of every child. I'm not an expert on this topic but I've heard enough about it to see why so many teachers aren't willing to work in special education.