Peotone No Stranger to IL Teacher Shortage

By Andrea Arens

Sixteen years ago I had just graduated with my master’s in elementary teaching. I was newly divorced with a one year old and desperate for a job. I went on countless interviews while working a minimum wage daycare job to make ends meet. The response from every interview was always the same. “You’re overqualified. I have hundreds of applicants just like you but I’d have to pay you more than a candidate with a Bachelors.” I was hitting the market during an economic recession when thousands of pink slips were handed out each spring causing teachers to either sit and wait to be recalled or change professions.

I eventually went back to school and obtained my special education certificate and found a job teaching children with severe trauma and emotional and behavioral disabilities for private institutions. Twelve years later, I’m still teaching. Other teachers took those pink slips and never returned.

The narrative has done a complete 360 since 2006. The teacher shortage has been building; earliest online sources suggest since 2009. The Learning Policy Institute article from September 15, 2016 titled “A Coming Crisis in Teaching? Teacher Supply, Demand, and Shortages in the U.S.” explores the shortage and in 2015 tens of thousands of teachers were then hired on emergency or temporary credentials to fill positions. That trend has continued.

On January 20, US News and World Report reported that New Mexico’s governor asked members of the National Guard and state employees to volunteer as substitute teachers.

Also on January 20th, The York Daily Record published an article titled “Pennsylvania’s substitute teacher shortage is now a crisis as the pandemic drags on.” Pennsylvania has issued 13,277 emergency permits for the 2021-2022 school year and the numbers were still being calculated. Pennsylvania even passed a law allowing retired teachers, college students, out of state certified, and even inactive certified individuals to work as subs just to fill the gaps.

Peotone 207U has also struggled to fill some vacancies. Superintendent Steve Stein said, “The teacher shortage is certainly real and causing an impact.  Though it’s gotten worse in the last couple years, it is something that has been building for at least 5 or 6 years in my opinion.  Though we are not short teachers, there are a couple of positions that we would have liked to have filled this year but were unable to.   This school year, we were short 1 special education teacher at the HS until Oct. 2021.  We would like to add an additional special education teacher at PES but we’ve been unable to. We would also like to hire an English Language interventionist at PHS (2nd year in a row it’s been unfilled).”

According to the IARSS (Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools)study, retirement is the number one reason for the shortages, followed by resignation or the need to fill a newly created position. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already increasing shortage.

The IARSS study asked school leaders why the teacher shortage is increasing and comments like “the job isn’t flexible”, “educators aren’t respected”, “licensure in Illinois is difficult to obtain”, “too much negative controversy targeting teachers and districts”, and “no one wants to work.”

Recently, Governor Pritzker vetoed a bill declining paid time off for educators and sent the bill back to the House with an edit that only fully vaccinated teachers receive paid time off for COVID-19 exposures.

In contrast, the Illinois House and Secondary Education Committee heard information on two bills introduced by State Rep. Sue Scherer aimed at addressing staffing shortages in Illinois schools. House bill 4246 would reduce the substitute renewal fee from $500 to $50 and House Bill 4139 would set up a reimbursement grant for public school teachers. Teachers who attended an Illinois public university would get a percentage of their tuition paid back over time. Both bills were introduced in October of 2021 and were recently approved by the Committee.

The IARSS study recommends the following in order to address the teacher shortage: “invest in all parts of the educator pipeline, address affordability for aspiring educators, expand early pathways into the teaching profession, prioritize strategies that support current educator labor market to prevent attrition, and consider short-term strategies for filling the educator pipeline.” What isn’t mentioned, increasing respect for the profession that made all other professions.