GOLDEN, Colo. — Alex Emerson thought she was getting an early start on her job search for the upcoming school year when she started submitting applications back in May.
She said at that point, there were still a lot of open positions and she felt hopeful she'd land at least one. As the country moved further into the COVID-19 pandemic, Emerson said the different jobs started dwindling without anyone seeming to actually fill the unoccupied positions.
"I probably applied to anywhere between 20 and 40 teaching positions here and, for the most part, didn’t hear a thing," Emerson said. "It was radio silent. Didn’t get anything."
She said the lack of response made her feel unqualified and that she "didn't have the credentials they're looking for." But Emerson already has one year of teaching under her belt in a different state, a bachelor's degree, a master's degree and experience as a student teacher, intern and substitute teacher.
"So, I've been in a classroom a lot," she said.
But all that experience didn't seem to matter because many school districts weren't sure how they'd be impacted by the pandemic. They just knew changes would need to be made.
"We do know that some districts did pull back quite a bit on hiring and filling some positions because the budget scenario with the impact of state and local taxes is really going to impact the district budgets," said Corey Pierce, an associate dean for the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences as well as the interim director for the School of Special Education at University of Northern Colorado (UNC).
Pierce said he and other members of UNC's staff and faculty have "heard of positions going away," being eliminated or put on pause within districts. He said those decisions are directly linked to a decrease in sales tax dollars.
"With the lack of tourism, the lack of people going to hotels and restaurants – local taxes, which are the main funding source for these districts really are taking a hit," Pierce said. "That hit can be pretty immediate because schools try to budget years in advance."
When asked if any specific positions would be hit first or hardest by the reduced budgets, Pierce said school counselors tend to "get devalued and those positions start to dry up."
"We do see some special education positions start to dry up or go away for a while because they try to push larger groups of students on special education teachers’ caseloads," he said. "We also see schools, unfortunately, also choosing to back off of arts and music education programs as well. And trying to consolidate the resources to the general education and those mandatory special education positions."
Pierce said a lot of districts used up the money in their reserves after the 2008 recession to maintain teachers and not close schools. He said they were just coming off of that just as the current pandemic hit.
"The more and more that time goes on, you just start really feeling like, “Did I go into the wrong profession? Am I not supposed to be doing this? What am I going to do now,'" Emerson said.
The good news is Emerson was finally able to score a job as a second-grade teacher. But in order to begin her new job, she first has to move to Kentucky.
"It’s bittersweet," she said. "I am so excited to be back in the classroom. I’m so grateful to have been hired. And while we’re excited to go to Kentucky, it’s a place that we really enjoy going, we weren’t ready to leave Colorado yet."
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