MONTEREY – The teacher shortage in the K-12 system has become so critical that a local school district is offering a $10,000 signing bonus for its next math and science teachers.

But the shortage, which began to show its effects in 2014 in Monterey County, is likely to get worse statewide if it’s not addressed, according to a report released Tuesday.

“Our analysis shows California on a trajectory that, if left unchecked, will likely result in increased teacher shortages and greater inequities among students in different communities,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, lead author of the report “Addressing California’s Emerging Teacher Shortage: An Analysis of Sources and Solutions.”

The report traces the shortage to an increased demand for teachers after school districts received new, post-recession money. California has the highest student-teacher ratio in the nation, and the gap became wider during the budget cuts.

By 2013, the state’s student-teacher ratio had reached 24-to-1, compared with the national average of 16-to-1.

For California schools to bring back the pre-recession student-teacher levels, the report concludes districts would have to hire 60,000 new teachers — beyond their other hiring needs.

But not enough young graduates are going into teaching, and the report cites a number of reasons: Interest in the profession has declined because the recession layoffs made it unappealing, salaries are not seen as attractive because they were frozen during the recession and teaching conditions deteriorated.

Mark O’Shea, a professor of education at CSU Monterey Bay who has been tracking the teacher shortage since it began to show in 2014, agrees with the report’s conclusion that low pay is one of the causes for fewer candidates entering the profession.

“I don’t see a lot of millenials interested in teaching,” he said.

The shortage has become so acute that Soledad Unified School District is offering a $10,000 bonus to its next math and science instructors. In the past few years, the district has become more creative in the way it recruits and retains teachers.

“The vanpools, that was one of my ideas,” said Lisa Kleinhofer, assistant superintendent of secondary services, referring to the three vans that transport 30 teachers, mostly from Salinas, every day.

The district also recently launched a teaching internship program for high school students as a way to lure young people into the profession. For recruiting, they went to Nebraska last year, where they made three hires.

The strategy is to look at “impacted” regions with high numbers of graduates and not enough positions, Kleinhofer said.

“This year, we’re approved for 11” out-of-state job fairs, she said. “We may not need to go to 11 — we’re already getting people interested in Soledad for next year.”

The shortage is being felt countywide. At the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, human resources administrators are planning to attend 14 job fairs: three locally, eight throughout California and three out of state.

The district is also looking to advertise on a variety of sites, spokeswoman Marci McFadden said.

School districts began offering signing bonuses last year, with Greenfield offering $5,000 for a music teacher. Other districts, such as Salinas Union High, have offered bonuses for hard-to-find teachers in topics such as math, science and special education.

O’Shea has never seen a $10,000 bonus offered before.

“That shows the level of desperation,” he said. “I receive messages with a great deal of frequency (from) leaders asking if I can help in any way with the severe shortage, particularly in mathematics.”

For him, the ultimate solution would be to increase teacher salaries and improve working conditions beyond class sizes.

“A workday that provides time to prepare for lessons and grade papers, these are important contributors as well,” he said.

Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 831-726-4370.