State projections of need for teachers to be revised

The state Education Estimating Conference, which is charged with forecasting student enrollment and teacher availability, has a short agenda planned for its meeting this afternoon, but big numbers are anticipated. Members are expected to approve revised need projections for Louisiana’s public school teachers. As recently requested by the state Department of Education, updated data sets will be included for teachers who migrate here and are certified to teach in Louisiana’s public schools. Last year, the conference approved an initial report that found Louisiana public schools in need of 14,600 new teachers by 2016. About 13,000 of the hires will be needed to cover a gap created by teachers who leave their jobs or retire, according to the initial report. The remaining 1,600 will be needed to address the increasing number of students in the state. —Jeremy Alford