Only about half of all public schools were serving students with a full teaching staff in October, according to new data that reveals the ongoing impacts of K-12 personnel shortages. That same month, 4% of the nation’s teaching jobs and 6% of non-teaching school positions were vacant, the National Center for Education Statistics reports in its latest School Pulse Panel.
The impacts also vary depending on a district’s socioeconomic status. “Public schools continue to have difficulty filling critical positions, with higher percentages of high-poverty schools and schools with high-minority student populations experiencing more teaching vacancies than other schools,” said Commissioner Peggy G. Carr of the National Center for Education Statistics. More specifically:
- 57% of schools in high-poverty neighborhoods had at least one teaching vacancy compared to 41% of public schools in low-poverty neighborhoods.
- 60% of schools with a high-minority student body had at least one teaching vacancy compared 32% of schools with a low-minority student body.
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The average public school had two vacant teaching positions in October and it may not surprise superintendents and their teams that filling some teaching positions is more difficult than others. Special education (7%), English as a second language/bilingual education (6%), and computer science (5%) were the jobs with the three highest vacancy rates.
And there are wide disparities between states when it comes to a full teaching staff. Florida, with the highest percentage of vacancies, has about 6.5 teachers per 1,000 residents. The lowest, North Dakota, has about 13 teachers per 1,000 in population. The National Center for Education Statistics also reports:
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- 30% of schools reported quarantining students in October, a decrease from 47% in September.
- 19% of public schools quarantined staff members in October, a decrease from 27% in September.
- 99% of public schools offered in-person learning in October 2022.
- 18% of public schools had one teaching vacancy in October and 27% had multiple teaching vacancies.
- 6% of non-teaching staff positions were vacant. The average public school had one vacant non-teaching staff position.
- The top three non-teaching positions with the highest vacancy rates were tutors (9%), transportation staff (8%), and custodial staff (8%).
“Teacher vacancies are not the only challenge facing schools this academic year,” Carr added. “The majority of schools have experienced problems acquiring necessities like food, electronics, and furniture because of supply-chain issues during this school year so far.”
