The Tooele County School District is planning to hire only half as many new teachers for the upcoming school year as it did in 2008, when 106 teachers were added.

Several factors are contributing to the slowdown in teacher hiring, including a new charter school coming online, state education budget cuts, and an anticipated decrease in districtwide enrollment.

The new charter school, Excelsior Academy, is expected to enroll 648 when it opens this fall. The movement of those students alone will likely mean a net decrease in the district’s total enrollment — the first time enrollment has declined in 12 years for a district that has been one of the fastest-growing in the state.

“Say the charter school takes 500 students and enrollment only grows by 300,” said Tooele County School District Superintendent Terry Linares. “That would leave us with a net 200-student loss.”

The district added 606 new students last year, but that was at a time when in-migration and residential growth were still relatively strong. With growth slowing, the district may add as few as 300 students this year, minus any that leave, according to Linares.

Another reason the district is expected to hire fewer teachers is that fewer are planning retirement this year, given the turmoil in the investment markets, according to Linares.

“We are currently in the process of surveying our staff,” said Terry Christensen, the district’s human resources director. “We know that each year we lose a few teachers because their families move, or they take leave to have a baby, retire, or leave teaching for other reasons.”

Christensen estimates the district may only hire 50 new teachers for next year.

Cost-saving measures instituted as a result of state revenue shortages will limit Christensen’s recruiting travels this year. Though last year he traveled to Colorado, Michigan, Oregon and Washington in search of teachers, this year he plans to stick closer to home. The only out-of-state trips he has planned are to southern Idaho and possibly Montana.

Montana has proven to be a good place to recruit teachers for Wendover and Dugway, Christensen said, because there are communities in Montana where people are used to a remote rural lifestyle.

Web conferencing will be used to interview prospective applicants who live farther away.

“We will operate on a leaner budget this year and rely on technology to help us in some of these areas where we have had success in the past,” Christensen said. “We still will be able to build a pool of qualified applicants from which principals can hire a diverse staff.”

Finding affordable housing remain one of the more difficult aspects of recruiting teachers in Tooele, according to Christensen.

“We have a number of single, first-year teachers that end up commuting from Salt Lake,” Christensen said. “Some choose to live in Salt Lake as they find more choices in housing. Others have come to enjoy the social aspects of life in Salt Lake for a single person.”

Christensen will kick off his teacher hunt with a special, by request, presentation at BYU this Saturday. Later on in the month, he will conduct a tour of southern Utah, visiting Southern Utah University and Dixie State College. He will also recruit at the University of Utah, Westminster College, and Utah Sate University, before making a trip into southern Idaho.

“We can do a lot with technology today,” Christensen said. “But nothing is better than meeting in person face to face.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com