MACOMB - A new survey from the state’s Regional Superintendents of Schools has found Illinois schools face thousands of teacher absences each week and cannot find enough substitutes to cover more than 3,000 of those absences, John Meixner, Regional Superintendent for ROE26, announced.
The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS), representing the leaders of Regional Offices of Education and Intermediate Service Centers in every Illinois county, conducted the survey of school districts around Illinois this fall to determine the extent of the state's substitute teacher shortage.
The survey of nearly 400 districts found:
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Schools have to cover more than 16,500 absences each week
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Schools cannot find substitutes to cover more than 3,000 absences each week, or about 18 percent of total absences (600 classrooms per day)
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Total absences are more common in schools in the Chicago suburbs.
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Substitute teacher shortages are more of an issue outside Chicagoland, led by southern and western Illinois.
Finding substitute teachers is a challenge that faces virtually every school district in the state,” Meixner said. “We hope this survey will draw attention to the challenges, raise awareness among potential substitutes and move the state toward permanent solutions.
In central and western Illinois, Meixner said 83 school districts responded to the survey in Area Three, which is one of the state’s six ROE regions. Those districts reported more than 2,000 teacher absences each week.
Schools reported they are unable to find substitutes to cover nearly a quarter of those absences.
Area Three includes the ROE26 counties of Fulton, Hancock, McDonough and Schuyler, as well as Regional Offices of Education covering Peoria (ROE #48), Sangamon, Menard (ROE #51), Mercer, Henderson, Warren, Knox (ROE #33) and Woodford, Tazewell and Mason (ROE #53) counties.
The survey is a follow up to a Fall 2015 review of teacher shortages by IARSS that found schools around Illinois are struggling to employ qualified teachers in a number of key subject areas. The Governor recently signed bipartisan legislation that reduces the fees for substitute teaching licenses.
Meixner said the survey also asked school districts about anticipated teacher shortages in the next three to five years.
Both statewide and in Area Three, schools identified special education as the subject where they are expecting the greatest shortages. Seventy percent of schools statewide and 62% in Area Three predicted they would see special education shortages. About half of the school districts in Area Three also predicted shortages in middle school math and science, and high school math, science and foreign language.
Interestingly, the survey may actually understate the substitute teacher shortage,” Meixner explained. “Districts were asked for comments, and a number pointed out that when substitutes are not available they resort to shifting teachers and administrative staff from other duties. These may not show up as an unfilled absence, but the net effect is that those administrators and teachers are diverted from their primary responsibilities.
We knew this was a problem in many districts, but with this survey, we are better able to quantify how significant the issue is. Illinois needs to encourage qualified people to become substitute teachers, to reduce barriers for those teachers. We must also work across the board to encourage college students to choose education as a profession,” he added.
Meixner emphasized these results reveal an obligation for everyone in education to redouble efforts to attract youth for their careers, and show the importance of giving teachers time to develop and grow in their fields time that becomes more scarce when substitutes cannot be found.
We must work toward marketing the wonderful personal advantages of entering the career of education, where you have a career with a true life purpose," Meixner said. "And once young people make that choice to teach, they need to know they'll be able to continue to develop their skills professionally to teach and lead the next generation. Finding more substitute teachers is an important part of reaching these goals.