PEORIA, Ill. – The head of education in Peoria County says it was “not shocking” to see the results of a survey related to teacher shortages in Illinois.
A recent study from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools showed that nearly 4,100 teaching openings in the state. It also shows that 91% of school districts in Illinois experienced some level of teacher shortages.
The report notes that while the number of filled education positions increased in the past year, the supply is not keeping up with demand, and the number of unfilled positions also increased.
Peoria County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Beth Crider says locally, big and small schools are affected by shortages.
“It does tend to hit some of these larger, more urban districts harder. They have a lot of positions that they need to fill,” Crider said. “But in some of our rural districts, they have positions that no one’s ever applied for.”
Crider says the biggest need in Peoria County is finding special education teachers. She says superintendents have been trying to encourage teachers to seek the extra certification needed to teach special education, in addition to their regular duties.
Crider says some of the problems seen with filling teaching positions, and keeping them employed, began before COVID, but the pandemic increased the intensity of it.
“As someone that was an administrator during COVID, it’s just been very hard to recover from that time and all that we had to do, and now we’re back to, quote, ‘business as usual.’ There’s a lot that we need to recover from and things we need to put in place to help our children thrive, and it’s been very difficult,” Crider said.
Crider says burnout is one of the biggest reasons schools have been unable to hold on to teachers, let alone filling needed positions in the district. She says there’s also concerns with salaries not being high enough to keep teachers employed at their school, along with a burden of increased responsibilities.
To try and find solutions to fill the openings, Crider says everything is on the table. One idea is to try and work with local colleges and universities, such as Bradley University and the University of Illinois-Springfield, to help people get teaching licenses.
“Right now, we are sending people online to the state of Florida, because it’s quick, it’s expedient, and it’s reasonably cost-effective,” Crider said. “I’d rather keep those dollars here.”
Crider says she also wants to see a support system developed with parents and community members for substitute teachers. She says even looking at how the school day and classrooms are structured can help with shortages.
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