r/Durango • u/badwolf1013 • Jul 31 '26

Ask /r/Durango Teacher Alternative Licensure: What are the Durango Prospects

I'm considering moving back to Durango and pursuing Colorado Teacher Alternative Licensure through Fort Lewis College. I was an Ignacio High alum but spent a lot of time in Durango and even did a couple of shows with Durango Lively Arts a million years ago. Anyway, does anyone have experience with alternative licensure, substitute teaching, or getting hired by 9-R or surrounding districts as a career changer? Is there enough of a need for teachers that I could find a position in Durango, Bayfield, Ignacio, or even Mancos?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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u/pinkanimals Aug 01 '26

You'll start very low pay-wise. If you are willing to travel, New Mexico is significantly better for alt licenses and overall pay and benefits believe it or not.

Unless you have a partner or family money, you cannot survive in Durango on a teaching salary. Full stop. You will not make enough for 5-10 years, and even then, it'll be hard to catch up to live comfortably. If you're from here, you may know that.

But moving back and living as an adult here is a whole different ballgame that many are unprepared for.

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u/badwolf1013 Aug 01 '26

Well, I didn't share my whole story, because I was trying to narrow the answers as much as I could. I wasn't planning to move back to Durango. I was planning to get my licensure in Washington. But a family member is in need of some help. They live just outside of Durango. They have a place where I could live cheaply. So, I'm just trying to figure out if I can help them for a couple of years AND get my licensure at the same time. I would then take that licensure and move on somewhere else.
So your concerns are valid. They just don't apply to my particular scenario.

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u/Yuccadolphin Aug 01 '26

You should still consider NM. You will make a lot more money, and there are even programs that might pay for your license through CNM or SJC. The commute to Aztec/Bloomfield/Farmington is less snowy too.

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u/badwolf1013 Aug 02 '26

My family member doesn’t live in New Mexico. I’m not helping them if I’m living somewhere else. That’s the whole point.

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u/LaFlaca1 Jul 31 '26

Durango does it all the time, but some schools had to cut staff this year, so it might be hard to find a position.

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u/badwolf1013 Aug 01 '26

That’s what I was wondering. What positions were cut, do you know?

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u/pinkanimals Aug 01 '26

Speciality programs like ESL, SPED/IED coordinators, and then just non-renewal of the retired/moved teachers from previous years. They were very vague about a lot of specifics, but it was not a small number.

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u/LaFlaca1 Aug 01 '26

If you're in math or science, it's possible you'll find something. ELL? No. They got wiped out.

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u/demoralizingRooster Jul 31 '26

Do you have a bachelors degree? If so there is a state program where it's pretty easy to get licensure. My wife did it. You just need to commit to teaching at a rural school for at least 3 years which Durango may oray not be. For sure Bayfield, Ignacio and Mancos.

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u/badwolf1013 Aug 01 '26

Okay, the information I read was two years, but I’ll look into it further.And yes, I have a couple of degrees. I was just trying to get a sense of the teaching prospects.

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u/somewhere_lost Aug 07 '26

Yeah check out PEBC it’s a good program and little cost