Greetings, My wife is completing her first year of teaching (6th
grade) as you  may be aware, California's education budget is a mess
at present, many teachers are recieving and/or fearing pink slips and
layoffs. My quesiton therefore is, what states would you recommend she
look for employment in? Specifically, looking for states whose
educational hiring outlook for 2003-2004 school year is upbeat and
that are fiscally robust, or at least better off than California. I am
looking for some options here, so please do not limit yourself to 'the
perfect state' e.g. Alaska.  Primarily interested in state teaching
opportunities but private schools are also of potential interest, if
you could locate sites that provided good information in this field as
well, it would be great. She has a full CA professional clear
credential and a masters degree in education, looking for an
elementary position or high school english or literature. We're open
minded as to where we relocate so long as we can take our three dogs.
thanks

Hello.

After reading your question, I feel that a three-pronged approach to
this question will help you to focus your search:
(1) What other states need teachers?
(2) What do other states pay teachers?
(3) What is the financial situation in other states?


Let's take these one at a time:

(1) What other states need teachers?

The National Education Association has state-by-state employment
outlook information.

I went through the NEA's list and selected some of the most promising
leads:

Alaska: "Teacher shortage in all areas, especially special education."

Illinois: "The state will need about 55,000 teachers in the next four
years."

Source: NEA.org
http://www.nea.org/students/about/state.html 

Kentucky: "Teacher shortages in rural areas and some inner city
districts."

Maryland: "Job Market: Excellent, especially in the urban areas,
Prince George's County, Montgomery County, and Baltimore City."

New Hampshire: "Within the next four years 40 percent of the NH-NEA
members will retire and more teachers will be needed."

Source: NEA.org
http://www.nea.org/students/about/state2.html 

Virginia: "The job market in Virginia is open in most urban and
suburban areas."

Wisconsin: "The urban areas, such as Milwaukee, need teachers."

Source: NEA.org
http://www.nea.org/students/about/state3.html 

Also see:
US Department of Education: Designated Teacher Shortage areas:
http://www.ed.gov/studentaid/repayment/teachers/tsa.html

A web site called Recruitingteachers.org also has some information
that you may find useful:
http://www.recruitingteachers.org/findjob/index.html
They also list a few areas that offer special bonuses to recruit
teachers:
http://www.recruitingteachers.org/findteachers/index.html

There also quite a bit of useful information in this article:
"The Teacher Shortage: Solutions That Work," hosted by
Education-world.com:
http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin274.shtml


(2) What do other states pay teachers?

You're going to want to consider the salary that your wife will be
able to earn in various states.  For this information, visit:

American Federation of Teachers: Salary Survey
http://www.aft.org/research/survey01/tables/tableI-1.html

Of course, the cost of living in most states is much lower than in
California, so that has to be considered as well. Fortunately, the
American Federation of Teachers also publishes statistics which take
this into account. See:
AFT: Salary Survey (adjusted for cost of living)
http://www.aft.org/research/survey01/tables/tableI-7.html


(3) What is the financial situation in other states?

Finally, I note that you mention that you're looking for a state that
is in better fiscal shape than California. Since California has the
worst budget situation in the country, literally everywhere else is
better in this sense. Nonetheless, I have located some statistics that
will give you an idea of the budget deficits that the 50 states will
be facing next year.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (alec.org) has this data:
http://www.alec.org/viewpage.cfm?pgname=5.158

search strategy: 
"teacher shortage", statistics, "ed.gov", nea.org
"teacher salary", "american federation of teachers"
states, "worst budget", "american legislative"

I hope that you find this information useful. I'm in California too,
and I can relate to your situation. How did things get this bad?!
Anyway, best of luck to you and your wife.