Advice about teaching positions in CO (teaching jobs, school districts, living)

[mab514]

I will be finishing a Master's degree in Elementary Education in May and I'm hoping to move out to CO and find a teaching job for the fall. I did a search about teaching positions and there were older threads about how competitive it is to find teaching jobs. I was wondering if anyone knows if it's getting any easier?

I currently live in MA and I don't like it at all - I'm really looking forward to moving. I think that I'll be moving to CO even if I don't have a teaching job lined up and I'll try and get a part time job doing whatever I can. I would also appreciate any suggestions about school districts that would be good to look at.

Thanks so much!!

[jazzlover]

If anything, it is getting worse, as people--many of them former teachers--try to get on someplace, anyplace that has a regular paycheck and benefits. Colorado also has severe fiscal problems (on the 10 worst list for states with structural fiscal problems, Colorado just missed the cut at 11th worst), and that is now affecting education. Teacher layoffs are now in the works in a lot of Colorado school districts. Like most everything else in Colorado, boom over.

"Getting anything you can" probably means a minimum-wage job in a place that likely has a higher than average (maybe much higher than average) cost of living. Bad combination.

[mab514]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

If anything, it is getting worse, as people--many of them former teachers--try to get on someplace, anyplace that has a regular paycheck and benefits. Colorado also has severe fiscal problems (on the 10 worst list for states with structural fiscal problems, Colorado just missed the cut at 11th worst), and that is now affecting education. Teacher layoffs are now in the works in a lot of Colorado school districts. Like most everything else in Colorado, boom over.

"Getting anything you can" probably means a minimum-wage job in a place that likely has a higher than average (maybe much higher than average) cost of living. Bad combination.

Thanks, I appreciate the information and it does sound like it would be a bad idea to move out there without a job lined up and jobs are not easy to come by.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I'd suggest contacting school districts now, as they are putting together their plans for the 2010-2011 school year. You need to find out when they do their hiring and how to get on their lists.

[rjlowe]

If you want to move out west, it might also be better to hedge your bets and contact school districts within multiple states - CO, UT, ID, WY, and maybe even NM & AZ. At least that would get you out west, and then you could have an easier time doing recon. over the school breaks. Just a thought. Definitely contact them soon as they are planning next year right NOW. Teachers that will be retiring are announcing those plans now.

[mab514]

Thanks everyone, I have been researching districts and there is a teacher hiring fair in March that I would like to go to. I have looked into the application process for some districts and I definitely need to start filling applications out and sending them in. I like the advice to apply to multiple states out west that probably is a good idea.

[CAVA1990]

You might want to check into each state's certification requirements. The teachers unions have lobbied many state governments to institute regulations that make it difficult to move easily between jobs in different states. I don't know that you could move into California for instance and be able to get a job without taking a number of courses there first.

[mab514]

I have, thanks. In Massachusetts, they don't exactly make it easy to get a teaching license and MA has reciprocity with a lot of states. In addition, I am completing a Master's program in elementary ed. But I will need to take the Praxis II to get a license in CO (if I decide to).