the educator deficit in america

Each year, thousands of teacher vacancies disrupt school systems throughout America. 

It’s nothing new- America has faced teacher deficits since the Great Recession, when budget-balancing efforts significantly reduced the workforce. Since then, the interest in the profession has continued to decline. Teacher education enrollments faced a 35% reduction between 2009 and 2014, said the Learning Policy Institute. 

Even as of 2017, the student-teacher ratio nationally measured at 16.1, compared to 22.3 in 1970, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government. It's continued to steadily decline.

Most recently, data from Statista reflected that approximately 57,000 educators quit within the United States in September 2024. It marked the highest point since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2022. 

Learn more about the detailed history of teacher shortages in America and the root causes at the Past to Present page. 

With educator deficits ravaging the country, Arizona faces some of the most severity. Learn about teacher shortages on a national scale and in Arizona specifically, including causes and effects, on the Crisis in the Classroom page. 

Special education is a completely separate battle within larger teacher deficits. A less popular and more specialized field, it faces unique challenges. Learn more on the Special Education Struggles page.