JOHNSTON COUNTY, N.C. — Teachers are in demand for the next school year, especially for growing markets like Johnston County.

"We've got 3½ new positions for next year, but we'll probably hire eight to 10 new teachers because of retirements and things like that," Clayton High School Principal Jerry Smith said.

Last year, Smith held two positions open until Christmas because he wanted to wait for two recruits to graduate from college.

Robin Little, who works in the human resources department of Johnston County schools, said officials travel to 10 to 15 college campuses a year to fill a large number of positions.

"It's a teachers' market and it's interesting when we go recruiting on the campuses. They learn very quickly that they hold all the cards," she said. "We expect to hire a total of 300 teachers next year. I would estimate that from one-half to two-thirds will be brand-new teachers."

North Carolina may have to look out of state to fill the vacancies. Each year, school officials hire about 7,000 teachers from out of state. Local schools only graduate about 3,000 teachers a year.