The current economic recession is now pounding on the educational system in a new way – it is preventing teachers from even applying to certain jobs. Now, in an attempt to cut costs, the NY Department of Education banned public schools from hiring teachers from outside of the school system.

This means that hopeful and willing candidates who do not live within a school system’s grid are totally disqualified from applying to many of the teaching jobs they desire. Instead, these school systems must exclusively hire internal candidates for these open teaching positions. Some internal candidates, meaning those people who live within the physical area that the school accepts students and teachers to attend their classes, are being hired even though they were given unsatisfactory ratings when they did teach in the school system.

This limitation in hiring is not comprehensive however. The Department of Education will allow for appointment of candidates from outside the school system for special subject areas like special education and speech therapy, since these are high-need subjects. However, this immobilizes the upward mobility of many hopeful teachers who do not have a background in these areas. This ban, just initiated within the last week, may last well into the summer, if not longer. Many of the candidates poised for New York work are completely caught off guard by this development since New York’s massive population and high teacher turnover rate has kept it a hotbed of educational employment for decades.

This latest symptom of the economic recession is not only a huge inconvenience, but also detrimentally disabling to many would-be educators. There are hundreds of teachers who are absolutely passionate about education but not economically equipped to live in school systems they want to work in. Other teachers want to work in low income neighborhoods but can’t because they don’t live there. Many teachers are now rethinking whether they want to work in the public school system in general, applying to private schools and charter schools inside and outside of New York.

However, the Department of Education recommends that teachers remain alert and continue to actively apply for teaching programs and pursue certifications in high-need areas. The state of the economy is unstable and tomorrow’s forecast is nearly impossible to gauge. Many teachers are continuing to be substitute teachers during the day and feverishly applying to different teaching posts during the evenings – a take home test of the optimism of New York’s struggling educators.

To be a teacher is a rewarding experience that allows a person to shape the lives of tomorrow’s leaders. However, the current economic climate is making the pursuit of this experience a harder one to attain. As positions decrease and new rules tighten opportunity, current and would-be teachers should continue to apply to jobs in different fields and locations in order to expand their chances of landing their dream job. Becoming certified in diverse areas of education and applying to jobs outside of your regions is a great way to make that dream of teaching into a reality that you can afford.