The Arkansas Department of Education is asking the state Board of Education to waive the license application fee for new teachers to enhance the workforce as quickly as possible.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the request during Tuesday's weekly covid-19 news conference. He said the move stems from the shortage of substitute teachers and support staff at school districts because of quarantines related to probable close contacts of people with the coronavirus.
The waiver of the $75 application fee to obtain a teacher's license would start this month through the beginning of April next year. It also would apply to teachers who are transferring to Arkansas and applying for licenses for the first time, he said.
"Hopefully we will be able to get them into the classroom and available for our schools in a much quicker fashion," the governor said, adding that the hope is the fee waiver will create an additional incentive for teachers to fill existing vacancies or work as substitutes as schools continue to struggle with staffing shortages.
From December 2019 to April, about 500 teachers joined schools in the state, Ivy Pfeffer, Education Department deputy commissioner, said at the news conference Tuesday.
Pfeffer said waiving the license application fee is "a significant opportunity for us to be able to more quickly get new teachers and to be able to provide relief to our schools who may need that additional personnel."
There are 31 active school modifications and 290 inactive modifications across the state because of the virus, according to the Department of Education, which tracks districts that shift to off-site learning due to quarantines, positivity rates and staffing shortages.
Twelve schools have filed pivots to remote learning so far this week. Over Thanksgiving break, nine reported shifts to off-site learning. The week before the holiday, there were 41.
Carlisle High School shifted to blended learning on Tuesday through the end of the week "due to several teachers and students being quarantined," the Carlisle School District announced on Facebook. Students will have the option of coming to campus but teachers will be working via virtual learning platforms, the district said.
Drew Central High School, part of the Drew Central School District, has virtual learning for the entire week, according to a Facebook announcement.
That district ranked second in terms of caseloads in the biweekly Arkansas Department of Health school report released on Monday.
Pfeffer also reported that Engage Arkansas, a Department of Education initiative to offer extra support for students who are struggling with virtual learning, has found that many students are falling behind in reading and math during the pandemic.
According to the Department of Education's website, the Engage Arkansas program will "determine how the pandemic has affected student enrollment and create strategies to find no show students, identify at risk students who are disengaged and help keep students continuously learning."
Nearly 5,000 students from 110 districts are participating, Pfeffer said.
"The strategy is focused on students who did not return to school this fall and because they are at home learning remotely, they may not be as engaged as they have been in the past," Pfeffer said. "All of this is working together in support of students."