Number of Full-Time Equivalent Teachers Employed
  2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996  
Total Teachers Employed  in the State 288,986 280,108 272,534 264,997 258,438 251,372 243,867  
Newly Hired Initially Certified Teachers in Each Year *   5,299 6,858 6,631 6,530 6,808 6,475  
*  Numbers represent only those teachers who obtained certification in the year before employment and had never been a classroom teacher before obtaining full certification.  By definition, this eliminates all alternatively certified teachers and teachers holding emergency permits.