Let’s face it, Maine has a teacher shortage, and that problem has only been made worse over the last few years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Bangor Daily News, “more than 1,300 teachers, education technicians, administrators and other educators in Maine left their jobs, and more than half of them did so in June or August. The state also reported that 927 educators retired.”

Joseph Rafferty

While there is no one solution to address this shortage, the Legislature needs to take action to reverse this trend before it becomes even worse. I have seen this problem develop firsthand over the years, and as a result, I have introduced a few bills to help address it. One bill looks to improve teacher certification response times to make it easier for new, qualified teachers to begin working here in Maine. The other looks to cut red tape for former teachers and ed techs who are looking to come back to the classroom. We must do all we can for our students and educational staff.

Speeding up teacher certification response times is important because it can help to attract and retain more qualified educators. As someone who is still in classrooms regularly as a substitute teacher, I still hear from educators about how slow the certification process often is. By streamlining the certification process and reducing the wait time, we can make it easier for qualified teachers to enter and remain in the workforce. Speeding up teacher certification response times can also help to improve the overall quality of education in Maine.

When schools are short-staffed, it can lead to larger class sizes and less individual attention for students. By making it easier for qualified teachers to enter the workforce, we can help to ensure that every student has access to a high-quality education. Lastly, reducing the wait time for teacher certification can help to save time and money for our schools. Unless we speed up the process, schools may also struggle to fill vacancies or have to rely on substitute teachers, which can disrupt the learning environment for students.

That’s why my bill, LD 335, establishes five new positions within the Department of Education in order to increase response times for educator certification and to provide oversight of the certification process. If passed, I am confident that we would reduce wait times for certifications, which would retain more qualified educators, improve the overall quality of education, and save time and money for teachers and schools.

Another way that I believe we could support schools and reduce our teacher shortage is by making it easier for retired teachers and educational technicians to be recertified if they wish to come back to the classroom. Retired teachers and educational technicians who are willing to return to the workforce have a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be invaluable to students and schools. By allowing them to be recertified, we can tap into this valuable resource and help to fill the gaps in our education system.

That’s why my bill, LD 753, would make it easier for former teachers and educational technicians who have retired to get their teaching or assistant teaching certification renewed under certain conditions.

As currently written, this bill would allow teachers who have worked for at least 10 years in a public school and had an active teaching certification before they retired to get their old certification back with the same grades and subject areas they had before. It will last for the same amount of time and need to be renewed under the same standards as before.

In other words, educational technicians would just need to have had an active certification before they retired to get it renewed, and it will last for the same amount of time and need to be renewed under the same standards as before.

I am hopeful that these bills will make it through our legislative process and will make a real difference in both the short and the long term to reduce Maine’s teacher shortage.

Joseph Rafferty is a member of the Maine State Senate representing District 34, Acton, Kennebunk, Lebanon, North Berwick, Wells, and part of Berwick. He can be reached at Joe.Rafferty@legislature.maine.gov or 207-287-1515. Sign up an email newsletter at mainesenate.org.