Shawn Hime, executive director of OSSBA, said the combined impact of budget cuts, too few prospective teachers and teachers opting for other careers or out-of-state teaching jobs is worse than a year ago. At that time, OSSBA reported 1,000 unfilled teaching positions and the elimination of about 600 others during the summer of 2015.

This year’s vacancy count of 500 also does not include positions filled by the record month of July, when 304 individuals obtained emergency teaching certificates from the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

The state Board of Education is expected to consider as many as 350 more emergency certificate applications when it meets for its August meeting on Thursday.

By comparison, in July 2015, 182 such certificates were issued so districts could hire people as teachers immediately despite their lack of required education or training.

“People who have never trained a day as a teacher are now responsible for teaching elementary school students how to read and do math. We have high school students who can’t take Spanish because their school can’t find a teacher. We are hemorrhaging teachers to Texas, Arkansas and Kansas,” Hime said. “This is what it looks like when a state fails its schools and its children.”