JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – Mississippi’s teacher shortage continues to persist statewide despite recent efforts to reduce vacancies and get more educators into classrooms.

A 2024 report from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) reveals that the problem is not improving. MDE data indicates 2,775 teacher vacancies in the 2023-2024 school year. That is a 7% increase compared to the previous school year. Despite incentives and alternative routes to teaching becoming more popular, university officials say it is hard to get teachers to stay.

Trenton Gould is Dean of The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) College of Education and Human Sciences. He said that for teachers who stay in Mississippi, different teaching experiences compared to college influence teachers even staying in the profession.

“A new teacher’s expectations for what it means to now be the lead teacher may not actually align with the real-world expectations. New teachers often get overwhelmed which results in frustration and, ultimately potentially leaving the profession,” Gould said.

Tony Latiker, Interim Dean for the College of Education and Human Development at Jackson State University (JSU), describes the state of Mississippi as a teacher-exporter state. In other words, educators taught in Mississippi’s universities leave for teaching jobs outside of the Magnolia State.

“As long as those other states that are really close to us continue to pay, you know, 20, 30 thousand dollars more than we’re paying here in the state of Mississippi, then, you know, our teachers are gonna be attracted to that,” Latiker said.

In the 2024 legislative session, the state attempted to address financial concerns by passing a new funding formula for public education. However, Latiker is skeptical of the Mississippi Student Funding Formula’s positive impact, as Mississippi only funded the previous public education formula twice since 1997 .

“We really just have to wait and see and just see how consistent the legislature is going to be in terms of funding,” Latiker said.

Historically, the most common pathway to a teaching license was through a bachelor’s degree program in a traditional teaching program. However, according to Gould and Latiker, alternate route teacher licensure programs have become popular ways for many to be teachers. It targets bachelor’s degree holders in eligible subject areas.

The most popular alternate teaching route is the Master of Arts in Teaching. These future teachers can acquire a three-year license after completing approved requirements and testing. Those holding a three-year alternate route license can convert to a five-year standard educator license after completing the remaining program requirements.

Teacher residency and teacher apprenticeship are recent developments in teacher education. Both engrain students in a year-long immersive classroom experience with a mentor teacher. The students gradually accept increasing educational responsibilities. USM was the first university in Mississippi to partner with the U.S. Department of Labor to have a registered teacher apprenticeship program.

To encourage more students to enter education, JSU partnered with Jackson Public Schools (JPS) for a dual enrollment program known as Jackson Middle College. There, JPS high school students can earn college credit and an eventual degree in college to be mathematics teachers in the JPS system.

The Teach Mississippi Institute and the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence are teaching routes outside of the college setting. According to Latiker, these routes to teaching are less popular due to their lack of public awareness.

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