Virginia school divisions doing a better job filling teacher vacancies

School divisions in Virginia are doing a better job of filling open teacher jobs, but there’s still work to do, based on numbers from the Virginia Department of Education.

The vacancy rate dropped from 4.7 percent in July, before the school year started, to 3.4 percent at the end of August, with most school divisions in the Commonwealth in session.

According to the VDOE data, 35 Virginia school divisions have a 0-1 percent vacancy rate, and 64 divisions have a vacancy rate under 2 percent.

Locally, Augusta County Public Schools had the best rate, with three vacancies, and a 0.4 percent vacancy rate.

Waynesboro Public Schools reported two vacancies and a 0.9 percent rate.

Staunton Public Schools had 18 vacancies, and an 8.8 percent vacancy rate.

Southampton County had the highest vacancy rate statewide, at 27.9 percent.

“Our schools divisions have worked incredibly hard to ensure that every Virginia child has a high-quality, committed teacher in their K-12 classroom,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Coons. “We remain focused on putting more qualified teachers in schools across the Commonwealth by providing innovative opportunities for aspiring educators, lowering classroom sizes, and decreasing workloads to retain the great teachers we currently have in our classrooms.”

To that end, VDOE recently announced, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Workforce Development and Advancement, that the state has received a State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula grant by the U.S. Department of Labor to develop and expand Registered Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway and pre-apprenticeship pathway opportunities in Virginia.

The $6 million grant will enable Virginia to focus on expanding its current 28 participating school divisions offering teacher apprenticeships for K-12 educators and building pre-apprenticeship on-ramps into the teaching profession.

The Virginia Board of Education last month finalized new local eligibility license opportunities. School boards, with superintendent or board recommendation, may now issue one-year, nonrenewable local eligibility licenses valid only within the issuing division.

Eligible individuals must hold a baccalaureate degree, possess relevant experience or training, and not seek special education or higher licensure. Gov. Glenn Youngkin also signed into law earlier this year a bipartisan bill for Universal Teacher Licensure, making it easier for teachers from other states in good standing to get in Virginia classrooms faster.

Additional licensure programs can be found on the VDOE website.