With a new school year set to begin this fall, education officials in Atlanta, Georgia, said they are scrambling to fill hundreds of open teaching positions across the district. Associate dean of school and community partnership at Georgia State University, Gwen Benson, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that growing enrollment and the economic recovery are helping districts across the state invest more money into their local school systems. "This year is a definite improvement over last year," Benson told the news source. "We produce annually approximately 500 teachers. The majority of our graduates have gotten contracts." State officials said that professionals who have a teaching degree with a concentration in math, science or special education on their resume are in the most demand. According to the Georgia Department of Labor, the number of kindergarten through grade 12 educators in the state rose by more than 2,000 between January and May of this year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that job opportunities for preschool through secondary teachers are expected to grow by 13% through the end of the decade. |