Progress, however small, is progress.

Every spring around this time Illinoisans get a new batch of school staffing data. Usually, by now, we have the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools’ annual study, but that hasn’t been updated. The State Board of Education’s newest Unfilled Positions Data Collection report dropped Thursday, showing a 2.1% statewide vacancy rate as of Oct. 1, 2025, down from 2.76% the prior year.

In raw numbers, that’s 2,973 teaching jobs. There also are 167 administrative vacancies, 2,134 paraprofessional posts and 964 school support jobs. Although it’s mathematically tempting to spread out those totals across 3,827 schools and 864 districts, the reality is that the needs are concentrated in terms of geography and specialty.

In touting the success of the relatively young Teacher Vacancy Grant, ISBE noted it counts 170 districts as those with the greatest staffing needs. It also noted more than a third of the unfilled teaching positions – 1,079 – are in special education.

It’s anecdotal, but personal experience as an Individualized Education Plan parent in four districts in three towns and two counties offered decent insight into the way funding and staffing affect quality of service, enough to confidently suggest it might be the same for other problem areas, like English language learner classrooms.

Still, ISBE and others deserve a little celebration for numbers moving in the right direction. Districts participating in the vacancy grant program hired more than 12,400 new teachers, according to the report, with retention numbers looking good and more than 2,300 employees pursuing endorsements or licenses in the high-need areas.

The data is available for perusal at isbe.net/Pages/Data.aspx, with historical information dating to 2017, a downloadable spreadsheet and a searchable dashboard. It’s a lot to digest, but a meaningful resource for anyone looking to engage the topic with either state lawmakers or local school boards and administrators.

As I typically note, the numbers leave unsaid the reality that high-income families are more likely to solve problems as relates to their own children by opting for private school or relocating to a district with better resources. This eventually has downstream effects on another topic we’ve recently discussed: property taxes used to fund schools.

Those columns and reader responses danced around something I usually mention while processing hiring shortage data: the taxes people pay in wealthy, desirable public districts – parents or otherwise – have a direct role in propping up the value of their homes because those who can afford to keep trying to find their way into the community. The issue also overlaps with the state’s higher education challenges, given its key role in filling the pipeline each spring.

Small progress is good, but we are far from done solving these problems.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.