The state of teaching in Pennsylvania just got its report card back, and the grades aren't good.

The report is from Teach Plus Pennsylvania and a coalition of other groups.

It states that most counties lack sufficient teachers.

“Not in every subject area and certainly not every school district,” said Ed Fuller, a professor at Penn State who gathered data for the report. 

The report ranks a county’s teacher shortage on this scale:

  • Mild
  • Moderate
  • Severe
  • Extremely Severe

The teacher shortage is moderate in Crawford County, the report said. It’s extremely severe in Erie and Warren counties. 

“They simply can’t find enough fully-certified teachers for the classes that they need people to teach,” Fuller said. 

The Pennsylvania State Education Association represents more than 177 thousand teachers and support staff in the state.

They said the teacher shortage has been a growing issue. 

One of the big reasons, their assistant director of communications said, is that a lot of students aren’t going into teaching. That’s because an education degree is expensive. 

“But on top of the cost of tuition and room and board, new teachers have to do a student teaching placement,” Chris Lilienthal said. 

The full-time placements are for 12 weeks. They are usually unpaid.

The state has started a stipend program for eligible student teachers. But not everyone who applied for it this year got one.

“Only a little more than half of the student teachers who applied for a stipend actually got one because there wasn’t enough funding,” Lilienthal said. 

The report’s authors want the state to fully fund the stipend program, more money for teacher apprenticeships, and funding for more data about the educator workforce. 

Fuller said a stronger network of teachers will benefit everyone.

“Everybody wants a bright future for their child, and everyone should want a bright future for every child in the commonwealth,” he said.