The suggestions come at a dire time. Fifty-five percent of teachers leaving the profession have five years or less experience, compared to 48 percent a year ago, Sperry reports in his 2006-2007 Teacher Supply and Demand Follow-Up Study (see www.utahsbr.edu).

Teachers are leaving most often due to a spouse taking a job elsewhere (22 percent), personal and family reasons (19.5 percent), and retirements (20.5 percent). Another 22 percent of teachers left for unknown reasons, Sperry reports.

Utah colleges would have to churn out 1,200 more teachers a year to fill needs in the schools. Even then, the number of Utah college graduates taking jobs in Utah schools fell from 76 percent last year to 62 percent this year, Sperry reported.

Fewer ethnic minorities are becoming teachers, a number down from 119 to 108 in the past year — while Utah's ethnic minority student populations rise.

Early-childhood and special education teachers are in highest demand in elementary schools; it's math and science teachers in secondary schools.

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