PA: Dearth of new teachers: down from 14,000 to 5,000; no reason given

July 12, 2018, Philly.com: The teacher supply is plummeting. Pa. will spend $2M to stem the tide http://www.philly.com/philly/education/teacher-supply-plummeting-pa-governor-wolf-grants-2m-recruitment-retention-20180712.html Pennsylvania used to license more than 14,000 new teachers annually. Now, it issues certificates to fewer than 5,000. The state is aiming to do something about that.... The number of education majors in Pennsylvania colleges and universities has dropped 55 percent since 1996, officials said. And the number of new teaching certificates issued in the state sunk 71 percent between 2009-10 and 2016-17, to just 4,412 from 14,247…. The situation is not limited to this area. There is a nationwide shortage of teachers — most acute in special education, science and math. The supply of new teachers is declining, according to recent research, as the demand for educators is swelling. Teacher turnover is a problem as well. Up to 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession in the first five years; experts estimate the teacher attrition rate is about 8 percent annually, with higher rates in urban districts….