Teaching Fellows con?dent despite budget cuts

State school officials might have to cope with less hiring, funding and resources as the N.C. General Assembly looks to lower the budget deficit, but for the N.C. Teaching Fellows Program, the future could still be bright.

Although looming budget cuts might reduce the overall number of state teaching jobs, program officials are confident teaching fellows will be able to find placements due to their edge in the job market.

“(Fellows) know what they’re getting into,” said Cheryl Horton, the director of UNC Teaching Fellows.

Established in 1986, the program selects 500 high school seniors each year who intend to be teachers, and the students earn a full scholarship at one of 17 colleges in North Carolina, said Jo Ann Norris, executive director of the program. Once they graduate, the fellows repay their scholarship by teaching for at least four years at a state public or federal school.

If a fellow is not able to work upon graduation, they have seven years to pay back their tuition with the possibility of three one-year extensions, Norris said.

“It’s not a pending disaster for the fellow,” she said.

The program also sends a list of graduating fellows to schools with job openings, though they don’t act as job placement agency, Norris said. Still, fellows know they have a better chance of getting hired, she said.

UNC junior and teaching fellow Tracey Barrett said she is not worried about finding a placement because fellows are the top of their class among teaching applicants.

“Teachers are the position that will always be needed,” she said.

But as state officials prepare for an estimated budget deficit of between $2.4 billion and $3.7 billion, district education budgets could be hurt by another year of cuts.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools hired 105 teachers this year — about half as many teachers as they did in the 2008-09 school year, said district spokeswoman Stephanie Knott.

The district currently employs 57 teaching fellows who have graduated in the last six years, according to teaching fellows employment data.

“We are certainly concerned about the budget cuts and how many positions would be available, but it is too early to know,” said Mary Gunderson, district coordinator of teacher recruitment and support.

But with tighter budgets, counties are focusing on hiring in critical areas, like math, science and English as a Second Language, said Tracey Dungee, Guilford County Schools’ licensure specialist.

The Guilford district is the second largest employer of teaching fellows in the state behind Wake County.

Dungee said her district frequently hires fellows because of their commitment and determination to become teachers. Fellows spend their breaks touring schools as opposed to enjoying the beach, she said.

But Dungee said hiring fewer teachers due to a constrained budget might result in larger class sizes, which ultimately puts students at a disadvantage.

“More than teaching fellows, we need great teachers,” she said.

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