The teacher shortage is real,
and it’s affecting local schools
The tri-county area is at ground zero of a statewide teacher shortage crisis, as area schools are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain the best teachers.
Specialty subjects like foreign language and science, technology and math teachers pose a particular challenge, as does finding qualified substitute teachers.
“There’s been more talk of a teacher shortage because a lot of things have aligned to create a perfect storm,” said Angie Zarvell, the regional superintendent of schools for Stark, Bureau and Henry counties.
Zarvell was on a committee for the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents that produced a report released in December titled, “Illinois Educator Shortage Crisis.”
Sobering stats
The survey, sent to 850 superintendents across the state, had a 73 percent response rate.
In it, 53 percent of districts reported a “serious” teacher shortage problem, and 32 percent reported a “minor” problem. In addition, 65 percent reported seeing “significantly fewer applicants” than five years ago, and 54 percent said they were having difficulties attracting qualified substitute teacher candidates.
The survey also found that 89 percent of Central Illinois educators say there are fewer qualified teacher candidates than five years ago, the highest of any region in the state.
Zarwell said there are a number of factors that have led to the shortage, among them, increasing teacher’s license requirements and ongoing rigorous assessment standards once they become members of a school faculty.
“The stakes are pretty high for educators, as far as new standards and assessments,” she said. “There’s just not as many entering (the education field).”
School districts must also compete with schools in other states, which are pitching pensions and benefit packages that Illinois schools have struggled to maintain. Add to that the well-publicized financial issues the state of Illinois is facing.
Another issue, which affects rural districts disproportionally, is the state’s long-used funding system that has depended so heavily on property taxes – creating winners and losers in a system that stresses locality over need.
“Students in Illinois get a different education based on income and where they live,” she said.
It also means that those poorer, usually rural districts, can’t pay the same salaries as their “richer” counterparts.
“Rural districts don’t always get to keep their best and brightest at home,” she said.
Finding solutions
Zarvell said that even the new state “evidence based” school funding model, which redistributes more state tax revenue to poorer districts based on need, doesn’t mean that rural schools will be able to open their pocketbooks for raises and new staff members.
She said that salary and hiring decisions are left to individual districts.
“I can’t say the funding formula is going to fix the situation we’re in,” she said. “We may be on a path to (financial) adequacy, but we’re not there yet.”
According to the survey’s findings: “Policy implications may include addressing substitute teacher qualifications, requirements for preparation programs, licensing renewal processes, and interstate competition for qualified candidates.”
It recommends decreasing teacher specialization requirements to “broaden teachers’ capacity to teach various subjects and/or grades,” and suggests that changes are needed to address “reciprocity licensure” that would allow professionals with doctoral degrees to serve in specialized school social positions.
In addition, it offers several suggestions for developing and retaining existing teachers, including offering paid student teacher training and expanding professional development opportunities. Like the substitute issue, the report recommends special licensing to allow professionals to share their skills in the classroom.
It recommends creating a “tiered” licensing program for substitute teachers, distinguishing between those who have supervisory or instructional duties. It also suggests recruiting retired educators to serve as substitutes.
Local impact
The leaders of both Kewanee districts say they have struggled with teacher hiring in recent years, especially in specialty areas.
Kewanee Dist. 229 Supt. Chris Sullens used a recent hiring as an example. He said seven years ago, the district had more than 60 applications for a particular teacher’s position. Last year, for the same teaching slot, only 10 candidates applied. A decade ago, he added, one open position at Central School attracted more than 200 applicants.
“It’s always been difficult to find and attract science and math teachers,” he said, “but we’ve seen it in other areas, too. It’s been gradually getting more difficult to staff a classroom. Now, if we get 12 people to apply, that’s considered an abundance.”
Sullens said rural districts are particularly at risk because of the state funding model, which makes the most lucrative opportunities in large cities or out of state.
He said he sells candidates on the area’s low cost of living and access to Peoria and Quad Cities, as well as the school’s facilities, which includes a recently remodeled biology and chemistry laboratory.
The superintendent said he hopes the state’s new funding formula will make a difference in attracting teachers in the future.
“It helps to make things more equal,” he said.
Wethersfield Supt. Shane Kazubowski said his district has faced many of the same issues outlined in the IARS survey.
“It’s been getting harder and harder with each year,” he said, noting special education and math as two especially difficult positions to fill with a qualified candidate. “It’s definitely an issue in this area.”
Filling retirements, since retirees usually give lead time to their announcement, is not as challenging as a teacher who just leaves at the end of the year for another opportunity.
He said he made an effort last year to make contact with all of the colleges within 100-mile radius of Kewanee in hopes of recruiting teacher candidates.
And he has worked with unqualified candidates to help them obtain needed certification in exchange for taking the local job. He also has tried to offer incentives to current teachers to obtain additional certification.
“You have to be creative and you have to grow your own if you can,” he said.
The state does offer some programs and incentives to help teaches in specialty teaching fields pay down student loans in exchange for staying in-state to teach. To address the dwindling number of ag teachers, for example, Illinois has created a program that offers incentives to current teachers.
Wethersfield recently approved a matching grant from the state that pays for some of the additional ours that ag teachers must work over the summer, which ends up not being “off” time for them as they travel to fairs for judging events.