ALBANY — Veteran teacher Don Carlisto said when he broke into the profession two decades ago it was common to encounter as many as 10 student-teachers from State University campuses at Plattsburgh and Potsdam walking the halls of the Saranac Lake Middle School..

“Now, I can’t tell you the last time I saw a student-teacher in Saranac Lake,” said Carlisto, a 7th grade English language arts teacher.

New York is facing a growing teacher shortage, and the problem is particularly acute for the math and science subject areas, teachers certified to instruct in bilingual programs and those trained to teach students with disabilities, according to state officials, administrators and representatives of New York State United Teachers.

“The number of young folks going into teacher education programs in New York has really plummeted,” said Jamie Dangler, the United University Professions vice president for academics as well as the chairwoman of the union’s teacher education task force.

It’s a shortage that is being felt from Niagara Falls to Plattsburgh to New York City, creating daunting challengers for administrators charged with ensuring that the educational needs of students are met.

“There is definitely a teacher shortage, particularly in the (grades) 7 to 12 strands, with particular needs for special education and science,” said Mark Laurrie, superintendent for the Niagara Falls City School District.

“Other needs are starting to raise their heads to an almost scary level, but it is almost dire for science and special ed,” Laurrie added. “There is still a cadre of people in the wings for elementary education, but the pool now is as shallow as I’ve ever seen it.”

To help get high school students interested in the teaching profession, Laurrie said, the district worked with its teachers union in creating a scholarship this year. The $2,000 award, funded by an endowment, went to a graduating senior who will attend the State University at Fredonia to eventually become a music educator.

Dangler said one worrisome trend is summed up by enrollments in New York’s teacher education programs. They fell by 49 percent from the 2009-2010 academic year to 2014-2015, the most recent period for which statistics are available, she said.

The need for new teachers is expected to become even more pressing as more and more teachers born in the Baby Boom era plan their retirements, according to NYSUT.

The New York State Teachers Retirement System projects that within the next five years, one third of the state’s approximately 270,000 teachers will be eligible to retire. As it is now, more than 50,000 working teachers are older than 55.

Dangler, a professor at the State University at Cortland, said the appeal of going into teaching has been harmed by “the turmoil” caused by mandatory testing and suggestions by some politicians outside the realm of education that more stringent performance measures on teachers will improve student performance.

“There has been an attempt from outside of the teaching profession to control and limit teaching and teachers, and that’s backfired because it has made their jobs more difficult,” Dangler said. “This has also imposed unnecessary obstacles to allowing them to do what they are really trained to do — which is to teach students.”

The worsening shortage, according to NYSUT, is also being exacerbated by the fact that an estimated 10 percent of those who graduate teacher education programs in New York go outside the state for employment, with some of those seeking to avoid the  state’s “cumbersome” certification process.

State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said in an interview that she and SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher have been working to address the teacher process.

One push has been to streamline teacher certifications in areas where there are acute shortages and easing the ability to get reciprocity in New York for teachers from outside the state who want jobs in New York. Some colleges, she added, have added online courses to help teachers get certifications for specialized areas.

The commissioner said one reason for the drop in enrollments at teacher education programs was the laying off of numerous teachers several years ago, when New York and the rest of the nation were locked in a recession.

“A number of districts all across the state had to make some tough decisions,” Elia said. “When there are major cuts, that can affect people’s thinking about going into the field.”

The push for stringent teacher evaluations, she said, has also left some disenchanted with teaching, she acknowledged.

An effort is also being made to ensure that those undergoing teacher training “have the kind of breadth of experiences that really help them so when they become a teacher they aren’t overwhelmed by things and decide to get out,” Melia said.

At Saranac Middle School, Carlisto noted he has no regrets about entering the demanding field of teaching 21 years ago. He said he and other teachers are doing what they can to “sell” the profession to young people considering various career options.

“We’re standing around in the district, asking: ‘Where are the people going to come from to fill these spots when there are retirements?'” he said.

A native of Chateaugay, Carlisto said it has been frustrating to hear politicians “blame teachers for the multiple ailments of society” as such assertions make it difficult to recruit new educators.

“We really have to go out and sell the profession because it’s still a great career,” he said. “We certainly see many students now who come to school with needs greater than we have seen before. There is no question there are particular stressors that teachers have not been confronted with before. But no one went into it because it’s glamorous. We did it because we love teaching and we love students.”

Joe Mahoney covers the New York Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jmahoney@cnhi.com