Teacher Shortages Loom Nationwide as New School Year Starts
AllSides Summary
School districts around the country are struggling to hire and retain teachers for the new school year.
Schools have resorted to a range of tactics to resolve staffing issues, including experimenting with four-day school weeks and filling teaching roles with retired police officers, veterans, college students and remote virtual teachers. The National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers’ union, estimated there were roughly 300,000 vacancies for teachers and school staff nationwide.
Outlets across the spectrum covered the ongoing teacher shortage in the months leading up to the start of the 2022-23 school year. In August, however, coverage was most concentrated in center-rated outlets and local outlets. Coverage across the spectrum pointed to low teacher pay, “culture war” debates, the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing industry trends as reasons for the shortages.
Some coverage in right-rated outlets in August focused on a plan by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to hire first responders as teachers, and some outlets like Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) featured opinions blaming teachers’ unions for the shortage. Some coverage from the left focused on teacher pay and quoted teachers' unions. While a Politico (Lean Left bias) newsletter said the shortage was “really bad,” a CNN (Left bias) analysis highlighted a professor who said the word “shortage” didn’t capture the complexity of the issue, since different districts face different local problems.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Teacher shortages continue as the 2022-2023 school year kicks off: 'We don't have a workforce'
A brand new school year is about to kick off in many parts of America, but one thing is missing in many districts: enough staff.
Well ahead of the 2022-2023 school year, educators and government officials have issued concerns about the ongoing shortage of teachers and school support staff — a years-long problem that was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the ever mutating coronavirus, which tested educators like never before, is far from the only struggle school officials have faced in recent years.
Darby Hoppenftedt, the director of student support...
From the Center
Can four-day school weeks help tackle teacher shortages?
Education leaders in a small New Mexico city are among a number of school districts turning to a four-day school week as a way to recruit teachers amid a nationwide teacher shortage, hoping three-day weekends will make their district more attractive than others. But it’s unclear if the format will work everywhere.
For years, New Mexico’s Socorro Consolidated Schools struggled to attract teachers, according to Superintendent Ron Hendrix. The district serves a small area nestled between Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
“Anybody new coming out of college, if they’ve got the choice between Albuquerque or Las...
From the Left
Low pay, stress and burnout: U.S. schools face severe teacher shortage
Kindergarten teacher Natalie Tran is excited to be back in her Oakland, California, classroom with her 25 4-year-olds. But she's not surprised that many other teachers across the country didn't return for the upcoming school year.
"We need higher pay," she told CBS News. "We need more respect for the teaching profession because it's extremely difficult, and we really need to have manageable class sizes."
Nationwide, there are at least 280,000 fewer public school teachers than there were before the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
AllSides Picks
March 20th, 2023
March 20th, 2023
Discuss & Debate economy and jobs
Introduction to Living Room Conversations
March 23 at 3pm PT / 6pm ET Living Room ConversationsMore News about Education from the Left, Center and Right
From the Left
From the Center
From the Right
