Alternative licenced teachers pose as a possible solution for NM teacher vacancies

Educators say more professional development hours are needed for all teachers

This story was originally published at Source New Mexico, a NMPBS partner.

By Leah Romero, Source New Mexico

As New Mexico schools continue to grapple with more than 700 teacher vacancies, according to the most recent data, some districts have begun to rely on teachers licensed through the state’s alternative licensing programs, which provide licensure pathways for people with degrees in areas outside of education.

For instance, Hatch Valley Public Schools Superintendent Michael Chavez told Source NM about one third of the teachers the district employs are non-traditional teachers and because of this, the district does not deal with teacher vacancies to the same extent as other districts.

According to the 2024 New Mexico Educator Vacancy Report released in October, there were 737 teacher vacancies last year, 34% of which were special education teacher positions and 24% were elementary positions. The vacancy rate showed a slight improvement over 2023 by 14 positions.

When asked for the total number of current teachers licensed through an alternative program, a Public Education Department spokesperson pointed to the same report, which noted that more than 1,100 students completed a teacher preparation program at a New Mexico school last year and more than half of those students were enrolled in an alternative program.

These teachers are “highly qualified” and bring years of professional experience in their field to the classroom, Chavez said. However, he noted, they are still learning how to be teachers. This is why professional work hours are so important, for teachers from all pathways and experience.

“One of the things that I’ve been really pushing on since we came out of COVID is we need to build the capacity of our teachers,” Chavez said. But finding the time with 180 days of instruction — a number set by the state Public Education Department in a March 2024 rule and currently in litigation — is challenging, he said. “What we need is more time…for professional development with teachers so we can develop them and build their capacity in learning how to become an effective teacher.”

New Mexico’s current Public School Code allows middle and high school teachers to use 30 hours of instructional time for parent-teacher meetings, professional development and mentorship, while elementary teachers can use up to 60 hours. These standards were established in 2023 through House Bill 130, which also set a required 1,140 instructional hours per school year. The maximum professional work hours allowed previously were even fewer.

When the Public Education Department subsequently created its rule requiring 180 instructional days per calendar year, it also included a stipulation that professional work hours be completed before school, after school or on a day outside of the required minimum, so as to not detract from students’ instructional time.

That component of the rule also faces opposition.

Whitney Holland, president of American Federation of Teachers’ New Mexico chapter, told Source NM that there are “more than enough opportunities to accommodate” professional development during regular school time and that her organization is “going to hold the line” against the PED’s rule.

Holland told Source that AFT-NM always advocates for more professional development time and an alignment between primary and secondary teachers’ allowed hours.

“I think the most valuable time I had as professional development as a teacher was that time where I could collaborate with my peers and even go into their classrooms and see what they’re doing,” Holland said.

She said she has some concern over alternative licensed teachers filling so many teacher vacancies because teaching is often their second career and AFT wants to make sure “we’re investing in people who are going to stay in their communities and stay in their field,” but “at the end of the day, I’ve worked with a ton of [alternative] licensed teachers who have been super capable. They bring a lot to the table.”

Holland said she would rather have alternative licensed teachers fill vacancies than long-term substitutes, so long as there are “some” individuals in classrooms with traditional licensure through the PED.

House Bill 238, introduced during this year’s legislative session, would have amended the Public School Code to allow all levels of teachers K-12 up to 60 hours of professional work hours. The House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill, but it eventually died in the Senate Finance Committee.

Holland said she will continue advocating for teachers to have more professional work hours going forward because “we are looking at a holistic model of what pieces of education need to change and I think looking at that traditional school year, school day is part of that,” she said. “It’s not going to be one fix. It’s going to have to be a whole bunch of different things.”

This story was originally published at Source New Mexico, a NMPBS partner.