The number of unfilled educator jobs in New Mexico's public schools has risen for the first time since the state began recovering from pandemic-era staffing troubles, according to a new report. Vacancies climbed roughly 9% from a year earlier to reach 1,471.

The figures come from a report released in late September by New Mexico State University's Southwest Outreach Academic Research Evaluation & Policy Center. The count covers almost a dozen categories of school employees, including teachers, educational assistants, counselors and administrators.

The increase follows a period of progress. Vacancies spiked to a five-year high of 1,727 in 2021, after the COVID-19 pandemic began. The next year they fell to 1,344, a level that put the state back near pre-pandemic numbers and that education officials described as a step in the right direction on a long road. This year's total is nearly 130 positions higher than 2022's. The state Public Education Department did not respond before publication to a question about what share of the educator workforce the vacancies represent.

Teacher openings grew the most, rising from 690 in 2022 to 751 in 2023. Special education and elementary school teachers were the first and second greatest areas of need, according to the report.

Gabby Begay, a teacher at Jose Barrios Elementary School in Silver City, saw the effects firsthand. Early in the school year, her school was missing one of its two special education teachers. The position was filled fairly quickly, she said, but the gap still affected students, particularly those who rely on structure. "Anytime when we don't have a teacher … it throws them off balance emotionally, academically — it's hard for them," Begay said.

Albuquerque Public Schools, the state's largest district, accounts for at least about 30% of the statewide total. The district's human resources department reported 436 educator vacancies, 57 of them teachers and interventionists. That figure leaves out speech language pathologists, educational diagnosticians and school psychologists, three categories the NMSU report counts as educators. In the district, educational assistants had the most openings at 210, followed by special education teachers at 146.

Rural schools may not see vacancies on the same scale, but they face their own obstacles, said Dawn Bilbrey, a high school teacher in San Jon, near the New Mexico-Texas border. "You don't want to be in San Jon unless you have a reason to be in San Jon. And that reason is usually family roots," she said. "If we lose teachers, we wouldn't be able to replace them."

The report also contained encouraging news. Enrollment in educator preparation programs at colleges and other institutions rose, with 2,055 students admitted last school year compared with 1,886 the year before. Special education and elementary school candidates made up more than half of those admissions, and the same two groups accounted for most program completers, with a combined 656.