The number of teaching positions in U.S. public schools—and conversely, the overall number of teacher vacancies—is holding steady this school year. Of course, that doesn’t mean school staffing pressures have vanished.
Some 31% of public schools reported losing teachers in 2024-25 while 27% added educators. Compared to last school year, there was no change in the total number of teaching positions, according to the latest release from the National Center for Education Statistics’ School Pulse Panel.
The overall vacancy remained at 3% in 2024-2025.
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Decreased enrollment and budget cuts were the top two reasons public schools lost teachers. Increased enrollment and the addition of new classes were driving forces in adding teachers, the panel found.
Still, half of school leaders believed their school was understaffed at the beginning of the school year, a slight increase from the 45% of administrators who said the same in August of 2023.
“With changes in enrollment and budgets, policymakers and practitioners alike are navigating multiple competing priorities as they address these staffing challenges,” Peggy Carr, National Center for Education Statistics commissioner, noted in a news release.
Here’s what else the survey found (as of October 2024):
- Public schools had an average of three teaching and non-teaching staff vacancies.
- 35% of schools reported one or more teaching vacancies (compared to 37% in October 2023).
- Multiple teaching vacancies were more prevalent in schools with 1,000 or more students, with a student body made up of 76% or higher students of color, and in cities.
- 41% of public schools had at least one non-teaching staff vacancy, a decrease from 45% in October 2023. 24% of schools reported multiple non-teaching staff vacancies.
School leaders have responded to shortages by deploying teachers and non-teaching staff outside their regular duties. About one in three have increased class sizes while about 22% share staff with other schools.
The survey also asked leaders where they are seeing the most vacancies. Here are the top 10:
- Special education: 34% of schools
- Classroom aide: 32%
- Mental health professional: 28%
- Academic interventionist: 24%
- General elementary teacher: 22%
- English as a Second Language (ESL) or bilingual education: 20%
- Administrative staff: 17%
- Mathematics: 16%
- Career or technical education: 15%
- Custodial: 15%
A glance at academic recovery
School leaders were also surveyed about student achievement and reported that about 40% of students were behind grade level in at least one subject at the beginning of the school year. That’s a 5% decrease from 2021-22.
Almost all school leaders reported serving at least some students who were behind in math and English. In response, 78% of schools said they provided tutoring this school year, a slight decline from 2023-24.
