Numbers tell a story, but rarely without help.
Consider the following items from a Capitol News Illinois story about Gov. JB Pritzker signing legislation intended to mitigate school staffing shortages:
On April 21, the State Board of Education released its Unfilled Positions Survey, showing schools hired 5,676 new teachers last fall, the largest one-year total on record and more than the past five years combined. The statewide vacancy rate is now just 1.5%.
It’s not hard to envision a politician taking credit for those impressive figures. But more math is required.
“In Illinois, schools still have more than 2,100 unfilled teaching positions statewide,” Pritzker said during the event. Using round numbers, that means there were more than 7,700 open positions last August. Some districts have more applicants than openings. Others can’t begin to attract enough qualified candidates.
“Our low-income, bilingual and special education students have the least access to the teachers they need to grow and thrive,” state Superintendent Carmen Ayala said at the conference. “We also have a severe shortage of substitute teachers, as was noted, and need an additional 2,400 paraprofessionals to fully meet our students’ needs in the classrooms.”
The Illinois Report Card indicates the number of full-time equivalent teachers was 129,575 in 2017 and 132,354 in 2021. Both 2018 and 2019 totals were down from 2017. Roughly 1 in 95 Illinoisans is a teacher.
Pritzker promoted several strategies: increasing funding for minority teacher scholarships to $4.2 million. The minimum annual salary for first-year teachers moves to $40,000 next year. The cost of renewing a lapsed teaching license is now $50, not $500. Paraprofessionals for grades eight and younger can now be 18 instead of 19. Short-term substitutes can teach 15 days in one classroom, not just five.
Considering all these figures from a variety of angles is less about the teacher shortage in particular and more as a useful thought exercise about the way public officials use information. And it’s not to criticize Pritzker or Ayala specifically, but a reminder that virtually every issue goes beyond surface details and people’s willingness to do most any job goes beyond salary and benefits.
As reader Julie K. wrote in March, “Do these lawmakers ever ask the teachers why they are so disillusioned with the job? Why they tell people not to go into the profession? The government is changing rules to get more teachers, maybe they need to reevaluate the rules that they have put into place for current teachers.”
Illinois has many good schools and excellent teachers, but clearly more are needed. The numbers tell an optimistic tale, but there’s much more to the story of whether the state can move things in a better direction.
• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Media. Follow him on Twitter @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.
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