Stories out of the state of Pennsylvania and the city of Baltimore this week add to mounting evidence: The teacher supply is looking healthy and robust in the midst of a troubled economy.

Pennsylvania has seen a 23% rise in the total number of educators who are certified in just one year, according to the state Educational Department's annual report on teacher supply and demand. Nevertheless, the state still had to issue 5,000 emergency certificates for teachers in hard-to-staff districts. One culprit is Pennsylvania's utterly useless alternative certification program, which has certified a grand total of three (not a typo) teachers in the last four years. Luckily for the Keystone State, they have adopted the American Board tests, which has the promise of going a long way to alleviate the lack of qualified teachers.

In Baltimore, the story is similar. Two years ago the city had 1,200 vacancies to fill. Now, after two years of pay hikes and the help of alternative certification programs such as Teach for America, the city seems to have hired 120 too many teachers.