**Regional Superintendent of Schools with the ROE#33 Jodi Scott can be heard Monday morning, January 24th on the WRAM Morning Show**
The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools released its annual survey of school leaders Tuesday. The results show that the problem of hiring teachers and substitute teachers in Illinois’ K-12 schools continues to worsen.
Capitol News Illinois reporters Peter Hancock and Grace Kinnicutt, as well as two of Grace’s classmates in the Public Affairs Reporting program at University of Illinois Springfield, provided reporting on the survey, which can be read here.
Today’s newsletter includes our coverage of the IARSS survey, and a podcast with a discussion between the four reporters on the project.
It also includes coverage Tuesday’s announcements by Senate Republicans about a package of proposed constitutional amendments, and by House Democrats about the formation of a budget negotiations team.
Survey: Illinois schools face worsening shortage of educators; problems made worse by pandemic
School officials across Illinois say a shortage of teachers and substitutes is forcing them to cancel course offerings, move them online or fill open positions with people who are not fully qualified.
Those are the findings of the latest survey by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, the fifth such survey the organization has conducted in as many years.
“Our schools need help, now more than ever,” said Mark Klaisner (pictured), IARSS president. “For five years of our study, we have shown how schools are struggling to find qualified teachers and are under tremendous stress to provide the best education possible while understaffed and overwhelmed. COVID-19 has only made those challenges worse.”
The survey included responses from 663 of the state’s 852 school districts, representing 78 percent of public schools in Illinois. It was conducted in the fall of 2021 by Goshen Education Consulting, based in Edwardsville.Peter Hancock has the reporting on the statewide survey.
Teacher shortages most acute in rural regions
In West Central Illinois: Matt Plater has been in charge of school districts for more than two decades. Something is happening he’s never seen before. Jobs that used to draw hundreds of applications now get a dozen. More specialized positions might not get any at all.
“It’s horrible,” he said. “This is my 23rd year as a superintendent in Illinois and this is the worst it’s ever been.”
Plater oversees Havana Community Unit School District 126, a small district in Mason County with about 1,000 students spread across three schools. In 2020, the district couldn’t find a Spanish teacher, so they contracted with an outside company to offer remote instruction.Andrew Adams, a Public Affairs Reporting program student at University of Illinois Springfield and a reporting intern with the State Journal-Register in Springfield, wrote about the West Central region’s survey results.
In East Central Illinois: There was once a time when Kristen Holly might see more than 200 applicants for a single elementary teaching position.
It was overwhelming just to figure out how to screen applicants, the assistant superintendent for student services in the Charleston School District, said.
That time is long gone.PAR student Taylor Vidmar, a reporting intern with Lee Enterprises, has the story from the East Central region of Illinois.
In Northwest Illinois: Schools were struggling filling teaching positions before the COVID-19 pandemic reached Illinois nearly two years ago.
The challenges of educating students during a prolonged health crisis has been an “added stress” for teachers in northwest Illinois schools, said Chris Dvorak, superintendent of the LaSalle, Marshall and Putnam County Regional Office of Education.
“I believe things have continued to get worse from the standpoint of COVID,” Dvorak said. “… I think it created more of a problem than were we were before.”
Grace Kinnicutt, a PAR student who is reporting for Capitol News Illinois this semester, wrote about the survey results in the Northwest region of the state.
***Report Courtesy of Capital News Illinois***
