The 2019-20 school year begins next week for some 180,000 children in Hawaii’s public school system. While the state Department of Education is still sizing up this year’s back-to-school staffing shortage, the teachers union expects that it will likely resemble that of recent years.

Last year, according to the Hawaii State Teachers Association, the state’s roster of about 13,700 teaching positions included a total of 1,029 emergency hires — typically teachers lacking complete license credentials — and long-term substitute teachers.

It’s unacceptable that so many public schools students were in classrooms headed by someone falling short of the state’s established bar for teachers. Sadly, this predicament persists as Hawaii struggles to produce a steady supply of homegrown teachers to replace retiring educators, and recruits from here and elsewhere often struggle with our high-cost-of-living issues and geographic isolation.

A few years ago, in an ongoing effort to address the problem, the DOE teamed up with the University of Hawaii for an initiative called “Grow Our Own,” through which some DOE employees already holding a bachelor’s degree can earn full teaching credentials at no cost in exchange for agreeing to teach for at least three years in public schools.

In fall 2017, the state reported that its retention rate for new teachers — educators who stay on the job for five years — was 54 percent. At that time, there was hope that retention could climb to 60 percent by 2020. Here’s hoping, with a homegrown boost, retention soon exceeds that mark.