Nebraska’s teacher shortage is real. But so is our progress. According to the Nebraska Department of Education, schools across our state entered the 2025-2026 academic year with approximately 490 unfilled positions, down from 669 the year before. This tells us something important: The strategies we’ve been investing in are working.
The path forward does not require drastic reinvention. Nebraska doesn’t need to start from scratch. We need to strengthen and scale the programs already making a measurable difference.
At the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Education, Health and Human Sciences (CEHHS), we get to see at the classroom level what works. From my experiences as a lifelong Nebraskan, a former classroom math teacher and now dean of a college that prepares educators across the state, I truly believe our most effective solutions are practical, data-informed and rooted in local community partnerships…