Teachers Wanted: A Nationwide Staffing Crisis Impacts Illinois

The teacher shortage is a crisis unfolding at the district, state and federal levels, worsening student learning and threatening the stability of schools– with no end in sight. In Illinois, 5,300 classroom positions went unfilled in 2022, the highest percentage of unfilled positions on record.

Reporting midway through the 2023-2024 school year, over 90 percent of schools in Illinois said they had a “serious” or “very serious” shortage of teachers in fall. Over 30 percent of support staff positions are reported to be filled with candidates determined to be less than qualified, simply to provide bodies in roles. The teacher vacancy rate has nearly tripled from 1.1 percent in 2018 to 3 percent in 2023, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. These rate increases disproportionately hurt students with disabilities and bilingual students, whose shortages of credentialed staff are especially acute.

Though the pandemic exacerbated the crisis, applications to teacher preparation programs have declined by 60 percent over the last five years. These declines in enrollment can be attributed to broader labor market trends, low pay relative to education required, difficult working conditions and other factors driving candidates from the field.  There simply are not enough new teachers entering the workforce to replace those who are retiring or otherwise leaving.

Critical staff shortages reflect the cash-strapped state of public education in Illinois, despite the state passing a 2017 funding formula that aims to eliminate inequity by bringing all districts up to adequate funding. With a 2027 deadline for legislators to fully fund the formula, 83 percent of Illinois students still attend underfunded schools. The pandemic stretched dollars even further to provide for remote learning technology access and academic support to remedy learning loss in especially hard-hit areas of the state.

These challenges are particularly prevalent in schools serving students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. Rural and urban schools in Illinois are struggling, with over 90 percent of schools in east central and west central Illinois reporting teacher shortages.

When teaching roles cannot be filled during the school day, school administrators are often forced to resort to harmful practices such as combining classes, canceling electives, pulling teachers to cover classes they are not certified to teach, and failing to provide special education services that are required by law. In a 2022 Education Week survey, 52 percent of teachers reported that student behavior was suffering as a result of staffing shortages, and 48 percent indicated student learning was suffering as well.

In a report from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, district leaders share their district-level perspectives on the root causes of the shortage: starved school budgets, teacher burnout, lack of respect from parents and politicians, increasing violence at schools, higher pay in other professions, plus the many steps to gain certification and licensure to teach. Superintendents also shared that a major contributor to high attrition was the intensity of the workload, with 40 percent of district leaders agreeing. As these contributors are largely systemic, superintendents struggle to find internal solutions, not being empowered with the tools to tackle them on a broad scale.

On a school level, teacher retention can be boosted with more flexible schedules, smaller class sizes, and improved working conditions. Illinois schools with lower teacher attrition also tend to have collaborative cultures and strong principal leadership, as well as lower student-to-teacher ratios.

Locally, “grow your own” and similar teacher pipelines strive to connect interested students to the profession. In March 2023, Governor Pritzker signed $70 million in annual pipeline grants over three years, targeting the 170 districts with most dire staffing shortages. Chicago State University and City Colleges of Chicago collaborate with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to enable students to earn a teaching credential in college and have a teaching role in CPS upon graduation.

District-level recruitment initiatives such as offering educators $4,000 bonuses to fill hard-to-staff schools have shown promise but are short-term in program scope. Due to funding disparities across districts, staff salaries can differ drastically from county to county– causing talent shortages in areas that need it most. In many districts, perks and incentives for returning teachers have been funded with soon-expiring Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) dollars.

Federally, in response to the pandemic, the US Department of Education (ED) has provided over $7 billion directly to Illinois districts through ESSER grants from 2020 through 2024. While these funds have been instrumental in keeping schools operational, there is concern that the federal program’s sunset in 2024 will worsen the teacher shortage in the long run. Illinois instructional staff salaries have made up 37 percent of all ESSER funds received, raising the question of how these roles will remain filled when the funding expires.

In order to provide equitable education for students across the state, we must implement progressive policy at the district, state, and federal level that stymies the exodus of educators. First steps include boosting teacher pay, as 70 percent of teachers leaving the profession nationwide reported low pay as their primary reason for leaving; investing state dollars to implement the evidence-based funding formula to ensure fully-resourced schools and improved working conditions; and establishing an accessible, supportive pipeline for diverse candidates to pursue education.

Lawmakers in Springfield must support our teacher pipeline to ensure sufficient teachers are recruited, persist to graduation, and find job placement. Promising initiatives like the Minority Teachers of Illinois program, providing $8 million in scholarships to students of color pursuing undergraduate studies in education, need to be expanded and replicated.

We can also support the teacher pipeline with incentives for earning certification and endorsement, especially among paraprofessionals and substitute teachers with proven experience. Improving abysmal paraprofessional pay (averaging $15 per hour in 2023) would ensure a steady pool of experienced classroom professionals who may choose to pursue a teaching credential, if supported and funded.

In order to ensure student academic success amidst an era of unpredictable circumstances, Illinois and ED must provide an influx of funds to districts that are understaffed in high-need specialties like special education and bilingual settings.

Though the roots of the issue are complex, eliminating Illinois’ teacher shortage could not be more urgent. Our students are our future, and all students are legally entitled access to a fully-funded classroom taught by a fully-certified and supported educator. Leaders at the district, state, and federal level must act now to protect the public good of public education.

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“Illinois Association for Regional Superintendents of Schools 2023-2024 Educator Shortage Report.” https://iarss.org/2023-educator-shortage/