And many districts are forging new avenues to find teachers. For example, Nebo School District officials recently promoted a teacher-education program for members of the public interested in changing careers.

Nebo is having a hard time keeping up with the pace because it has been growing 800-1,000 students a year for the past five years. Nebo administrators counted about 25,000 students in October. Up to 40,000 students could be attending Nebo schools by 2020, Nebo Superintendent Chris Sorensen said.

In the Alpine School District, there were 54,773 students enrolled in the fall. District officials expect to see 2,000 new students in classes each year and by 2010, there could be nearly 65,000 students..

At last count, there were 2,772 English-language learners, said Penny Weatherly, Alpine's alternative language services director.

"Our numbers, over the last 10 years, they have increased about 300 percent," Weatherly said. "Now they're levelling out. I don't know if that's due to the job market, or housing all, of the above or other things."

She said the majority of the students who are learning English live in Orem, although there are indications that may change.

"We don't know where it will shift," Weatherly said.

The exception in student growth in Utah County is Provo School District. There are about 13,000 students in Provo's schools, and that is not expected to change any time soon.

However, there is an increase in the numbers of ESL students, particularly among students whose families have immigrated from Central and South America.

"We are seeing a growth in the Hispanic population," said Greg Hudnall, student services director. "We've seen a 2-2 1/2 percent increase a year. Our current Hispanic population is about 18 percent."

Provo school administrators also worry about a teacher shortage, but the district might be minimally affected by a statewide crisis.

"We're in the backyard of (Brigham Young University)," Hudnall said. "We're lucky."

The district has plenty of teachers and student teachers from which to pick each year because of its proximity to the campus, located about two blocks away from district offices.

---

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com