March 14, 2021 – A survey by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) that logged responses from 591 of the state’s 853 districts, concluded that 77% of participating school districts reported a teacher shortage problem.
IARSS President Mark Klaisner called it tragic, saying there are a number of factors to blame. One of these, he said, is funding.
“It’s actually well accepted by Legislators and educators alike that our funding mechanism is not equitable,” Klaisner said. “It’s not fair, it’s not consistent.”
Since Illinois school funding derives from property taxes, rural schools don’t have the property base to provide competitive salaries, he stated.
“It’s not uncommon that a metro area school district might be able to afford twice the salary of a rural district,” Klaisner said.
In addition, the state has restructured its debt to weigh heavily on the pension process creating insecurity, Klaisner said. Pension insecurity is a big deterrent to prospective teachers, he explained.
Now, the health crisis has created even more reasons for teachers to stay out of Illinois classrooms. Since the start of COVID-19, the survey found that 93% of school district respondents reported difficulties hiring substitute teachers. As the pandemic forced more virtual interaction, the technological element of teaching went through the roof, Klaisner said.
“Our substitute teachers or those who were more advanced in their careers were not likely to pick up and add remote skills with pretty sophisticated software,” Klaisner said.
This deterred some from filling jobs, while fear of catching the virus kept others away.
“The general concern about health and welfare, those factors were considerable and made a huge difference in people either staying in the profession or people who chose to go into the profession or people who were choosing to substitute in the profession,” Klaisner said.
Klaisner said they are talking to a number of organizations like Relay University and the Golden Apple Foundation to come up with ways Illinois can attract more teachers.
“Those are organizations that are looking at alternate routes or abbreviated routes to teacher certification,” Klaisner said. “How can we get people, quality people, in classrooms fast?”
This option, and others like short-term approvals and licenses for substitutes or para-pros, Klaisner said he would put in the “Band-Aid folder” as short-term solutions.
“But at the same time we’re asking questions like, ‘What is a sophomore in high school thinking about being a teacher?’” Klasiner asked. “’Do they like that idea? What deters them from being a teacher or what excites them about being a teacher?’ And engaging young people at 15 or 16 years old because we know that that pipeline four or five years out still, that pipeline is what’s going to solve the problem.”
