SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah’s governor says there’s a statewide shortage of teachers and he’s pushing for better salaries to retain the ones in the classrooms and bring back those who have left.
At a news conference Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Gov. Gary Herbert says the state needs to recruit and retain the best and the brightest.
Herbert has spent much of the summer visiting schools across Utah.
He has tested out different security features to stop would-be shooters and spoke with counselors and administrators about what else can be improved.
According to a joint study from the Utah State Board of Education and the Utah Education Policy Center, 47 percent of new teachers leave the profession after five years in the classroom.
That numbers rises to 56 percent after seven years.
