TEACHER HUNT GOING OUT OF STATE; RECRUITERS TO TRAVEL FROM ARIZONA TO MINNESOTA.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Wanted: Dedicated men and women to impart academic knowledge to teen-agers. Summers and holidays off. Salaries range from $30,574 to $55,704. Apply to the William S. Hart Union High School District.

The high schools and junior highs in Newhall, Canyon Country, Saugus and Valencia will need an extra 50 to 80 teachers for the 1998-99 school year, administrators estimate.

District officials have been looking high and low, near and far for faculty to hire, and across California there are more jobs than people to fill them. For that reason, Hart district officials will attend several out-of-state recruiting fairs this spring in search of qualified applicants.

The school board this month approved $38,000 in travel and promotional expenses so that Hart district recruiters can attend job fairs in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota, armed with newly produced materials and brochures that publicize the district for prospective hires.

Although out-of-state recruiting has been a Hart district strategy for the past few years, this year's edition illustrates not only the continuing statewide teacher shortage but also the ever-growing enrollment in the district's four high schools and four junior highs.

Currently, the district has about 14,100 students, 600 instructors and is operating on a $70.2 million budget, said Assistant Superintendent Mike von Buelow.

``We've never had a need for the number of teachers that we have now,'' von Buelow said. In the past three years, the district has hired 230 faculty.

``A lot of it is because of (enrollment) growth and teacher retirements, and teachers taking leaves for pregnancies. Put it all together and it's coming to 80 to 100 teachers a year,'' he said.

In March, April, May and June, Hart recruiters will attend fairs where as many as 100 colleges will be represented at each. District officials chose states where there exists a teacher surplus as well as a healthy supply of college graduates with teaching degrees who are willing to move west to work.

The California school districts aren't the only ones that look out-of-state for good job candidates. ``We typically see 100 to 150 school districts at these things. We always see L.A. Unified, for example,'' von Buelow said.

In a report to the school board this month, von Buelow outlined some of the reasons for the recruiting trips.

``California colleges and universities are not able to keep up with the needs of a rapidly growing population and the increased needs of school districts as the . . . class-size reduction program empties the teacher pool,'' his report stated. ``High schools have particular trouble finding qualified science, math, foreign language and special education teachers,'' von Buelow said.

``Currently, about 15 percent of the (Hart district) teaching staff is qualified by age for retirement, and staff projects yearly (enrollment) growth from 4 percent to 8 percent,'' he added.

Superintendent Bob Lee said there is another factor that contributes to the shortage.

Generally, more prospective teachers get elementary credentials than earn the secondary credentials, meaning there are fewer qualified candidates from which Hart district recruiters can choose.

``Historically, teacher training programs probably put out two- or three-to-one more elementary school teachers than secondary teachers,'' Lee said.

Further, secondary teachers are required to have a college degree in the subject they will teach, rather than the liberal arts degree that is sufficient to teach at the elementary level, the superintendent said.

``Whereas a person who graduates with a science degree or math degree can go into private industry and make $50,000 or $60,000 to start . . . if they go into education, they're going to start at $25,000,'' Lee said.