Nearly Half Of DOE’s New Teacher Hires Are Not Licensed To Teach

This article was originally published in Civil Beat.

The Department of Education is hiring fewer teachers and seeing an uptick in unlicensed educators in its schools, according to a recent employment report for the 2024-25 academic year. 

Last year, roughly 48% of newly hired Hawaiʻi educators did not have a teacher’s license, a significant jump from the 27% of new teachers who didn’t have one in the 2020-21 academic year. The numbers include those who have completed an educator preparation program but have not yet earned a state teaching license. 

The number of unlicensed educators, also known as emergency hires, has steadily increased since the pandemic, partly due to the recent increase in pay for these workers. The state also has programs in place to help emergency hires earn their license while teaching.

This fall, DOE reported the lowest number of teacher vacancies in five years, largely due to the uptick in emergency hires filling open positions. Emergency hires can work in schools for up to three years while they make progress toward earning a license. 

The department hired 1,300 teachers last year, down from more than 1,600 the year before that. Of those teachers, 82% were Hawaiʻi residents — the largest percentage of resident hires DOE has seen in the past four years.

Fewer teachers also left Hawaiʻi schools last year, with 1,116 retiring or resigning from their jobs, down from roughly 1,200 the year before. Most commonly, teachers said they left their jobs because they planned to move out of Hawaiʻi. 

The state has introduced more initiatives to improve teacher retention in recent years, including bonuses for educators working in hard-to-staff positions and increasing teacher pay. 

During Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, Assistant Superintendent Sean Bacon said the DOE is continuing to work on recruiting local teachers. For example, he said, schools are developing more career pathways for high school students interested in becoming teachers or educational assistants after they graduate. 

Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy and “Data Dive” is supported in part by the Will J. Reid Foundation.