Nationwide, schools are seeing a teacher shortage that has peaked at an all time high. Since January 2020, there are over 270,000 fewer school staff members. With fewer teachers comes more crowded classrooms, stressed faculty, and a likely less ideal student experience. While this issue is especially prevalent this year, it is not a new problem. Educators have been reported to be overworked for years, and combined with complaints of low yearly salaries, the shortage of teachers has increased over the years. The pandemic has only shined a light on a problem annually plaguing the K-12 labor market. However, even with the issue being nation-wide, not all places have been affected equally.

The pandemic is certainly to blame for the recent uptick in teacher shortages. According to the National Education Association (NEA), 55% of educators now plan on leaving their education careers early due to the pandemic. This has disproportionately affected minority teachers, with 62% of Black and 59% of Hispanic or Latino teachers affirming the same survey question. This follows a level of strain teachers have been experiencing that was formerly unheard of. Smaller faculty sizes mean more students to teach per student. With student motivation and effort being at an all time low due to the pandemic as well, all this has led to 90% of teachers in the NEA stating that they feel burnt out. Moreover, teachers have to fill in for their missing colleagues. Some 80% of NEA members have reported that their workload has increased as job openings remain unfilled.

Before the quality of teachers can be assessed, there must be an adequate number of teachers employed; this is currently not the case. School districts are having to sacrifice quality for quantity when it comes to who they hire in the wake of the pandemic. The 1.59 hires for every open teaching position in 2010 dropped to 1.06 in 2016; now, it sits at an uneasy 0.59. Arizona, which has historically had teacher salaries below the national average, is now allowing teachers who have not yet received their bachelor degrees to work in the classroom in order to combat this shortage. In Florida, military veterans are able to receive a temporary teaching certificate as the state faces the challenge of having over 4,000 teaching vacancies. A number of states have opted to increase teacher salaries. However, many rural districts do not have the funding to do so, and few teachers are willing to make the drive out to a rural district to work for less. Instead, some districts have decreased instructional hours to entice new hires. Missouri, which struggles with higher rates of poverty and low teacher salaries compared to other US states, has 25% of its districts experiencing a 4-day school week with longer days. For school board officials, this decision can be a fine line to walk on, as decreasing instructional hours may hurt student achievement. There has yet to be a definitive answer to whether these 4-day school weeks are benefiting or hurting students.

But how is Virginia faring? The state ranks 18th for highest teacher salaries. Despite this, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin states that there is a shortage of teachers as the profession becomes increasingly more political. The number of teacher vacancies in the state has doubled since 2019. Just less than a month ago Youngkin signed an executive directive to address this shortage. Under this directive, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jillian Barlow, may issue teaching and renewal licenses to out-of-state and retired teachers. The Education Department is currently working on loosening regulations for teacher licensure as well. Among other changes, Youngkin has budgeted out 10% raises in salaries for teachers over the next 2 years and better funding for school labs, construction, and renovations. Youngkin intends, through this directive, to show his value of education in the state. Only after these changes are implemented will it be determined whether or not these developments will help decrease the number of teacher vacancies across the state.

Information retrieved from the National Education Association, The New York Times, The Virginia Mercury, and Vox News.