America’s K-12 public schools are relying on classroom assistants, virtual learning and even military veterans to cover a pandemic shortage of teachers and staff as the academic year begins.
Alabama is recognizing out-of-state teacher licenses, and Louisiana is offering college education credits to high school students. New Jersey is letting teachers conduct classes virtually from their homes.
Florida is offering temporary teaching credentials to retired veterans and first responders without classroom experience. According to the Florida Education Association, the state has 9,000 teaching vacancies heading into the start of classes.
“In Florida, we are leading by example with innovative teacher recruitment initiatives and in our support of military and veteran families,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican.
New Jersey’s Flemington-Raritan Regional School District reported in an August newsletter that it had hired more than 100 “formerly outsourced” classroom assistants as full-time teachers in health, physical education, music, preschool and band, among other subjects.
The district still has openings in world languages, special education, math and science.
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Proximity Learning, a company that trains virtual teachers, said more than 700 schools are using its instructors to teach livestream classes this year — nearly double last year’s demand.
“This speaks to the growing challenge of the teacher shortage,” said Evan Erdberg, Proximity’s CEO.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 300,000 teachers and staff quit their jobs from February 2020 through May 2022. Retiring and departing teachers cited COVID-19 burnout.
A survey that Education Week conducted from June 29 to July 18 found that roughly three-quarters of K-12 principals and school district leaders don’t have enough applicants to fill open positions for the fall semester.
In response, the heads of the nation’s two largest teachers unions are urging schools to redirect pandemic relief funds toward salary increases and hiring bonuses.
National Education Association President Rebecca Pringle recently told ABC News that officials must ensure “all of our schools are funded so all of our students have what they need and they deserve.”
In a July press release, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten cited “inadequate support and resources” and “subpar compensation” for driving the shortage.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona agrees. He told Spectrum News last week that “paying competitive salaries and giving them professional development opportunities” are keys to retaining teachers.
Dennis Roche, president of the school-tracking website Burbio, said none of that will matter if overwhelmed teachers keep calling in sick to work. The situation has become increasingly common since the pandemic started, he said.
Although Burbio found that most public schools stayed open last year, Mr. Roche said “some went to virtual learning because they didn’t have enough teachers in the classroom.”
“If there’s an increase in COVID infections, it could happen again,” he said.
Burbio reports that districts are spending large portions of $90 billion in federal relief funding on expanded mental health resources and staff to respond to an uptick in depressed and anxious students and teachers.
Former middle school special education teacher Patrick Quinn, a parenting specialist at the learning app Brainly, said the teacher shortage is making the strain worse regardless of recent fixes.
“The shortages are going to have a major impact on school staff, the students and the parents,” Mr. Quinn said. “The best thing to prepare our kids for this is to arm them with this knowledge beforehand. Let them know that they might have to do a bit more than usual to succeed this year.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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