It’s a weird time to be having a national conversation about teacher shortages. Thanks in part to the surge of federal relief funds, schools have ambitious hiring plans — but they have been unable to bring on as many people as they would like. As of last month, job openings remain elevated well above normal levels.
And yet, on a per-student basis, schools today employ more teachers and other staff than they’ve ever had.
This may sound surprising or counterintuitive, so let’s use data on my home state of Virginia as an example.
