Regional superintendents look to address Illinois teacher shortage
By RAYMON TRONCOSO
Capitol News Illinois
rtroncoso@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – Following a February survey of school districts that illustrated a persistent teacher shortage in the state, the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools has released policy recommendations calling for better benefits and more lenient certification in an effort to reverse the trend.
The IARSS, which serves as an intermediary between local school districts and the Illinois State Board of Education, had the survey conducted between September and October to see how school districts were faring with the supply of professional and substitute teachers during the 2020-2021 school year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Illinois was split into seven regions for the purpose of the survey, and school districts reported the shortage was worst in west central and southeastern Illinois.
White papers developed in response to the survey give seven policy recommendations as ways to combat it from the local to statewide level. The two primary methods discussed in the white paper are improving teacher pay and lessening the restrictions on certifications teachers need in order to get hired.
Compensation
When it comes to compensation, it’s not as simple as just increasing teachers’ salaries, according to IARSS President Mark Klaisner.
“One of the misnomers has been that you can just throw money at salary,” Klaisner said in an interview with Capitol News Illinois.
It was just two years ago that Illinois passed a law raising teacher pay, with a mandated minimum of $40,000 by the 2023 school year. Representatives of the IARSS filed witness slips in opposition to the minimum wage increase during committee hearings on the matter in 2019.
While Klaisner said that action was taken in an effort to address the teacher shortage, he believes it actually had the opposite effect in many places, particularly in the rural, less affluent regions of the state.
“Unfortunately, small school districts were reporting to me, that didn’t solve a problem it caused a problem, because if I have to pay a minimum of ($40,000), I’m going to let a couple teachers go so I have money to meet the 40 threshold,” Klaisner said. “Now my class sizes go up, so education’s not better. All I’ve done is I’ve moved a problem from one column to the other column.”
According to Klaisner, without additional funding, schools in rural areas have to make the difficult choice between offering a lower relative salary – which makes them less competitive than their metro counterparts – and cutting some positions to add the difference to core positions to attract applicants.
The National Education Association lists the state’s average teacher salary at $68,000, and the average starting salary at $40,484. But in the most rural and underserved areas of the state, particularly in the west central and southeastern regions, open positions offer the state’s bare minimum, which is increasing from $32,000 in the current school year to just under $35,000 for the 2021-2022 school year starting in August.
“We know there’s certain sectors of the state that’s suffering more than others,” John Meixner, a regional superintendent who oversees Fulton, Hancock, McDonough and Schuyler counties said in a podcast on education.
“A normal teaching position opens up and an applicant pool up in (Cook County) may have, instead of 150 applicants you might only have 20, whereas instead of having 10 we have zero,” he added. “I mean literally we’ve had positions, dozens of positions where zero applicants apply.”
Longstanding problems with the Teachers Retirement System – the pension plan for all Illinois public school teachers outside of the Chicago Public Schools district – have also served as a barrier to attracting applicants to the profession.
The Tier II retirement system available to those hired after 2010 requires teachers work until they are 67 years old to receive full benefits. It also provides less compensation in retirement as their contribution to the plan also works to pay down the unfunded liability of teachers enrolled in the previous pension plan.
On the salary front, IARSS is recommending school districts lobby the state to approve state-funded loan forgiveness programs for teachers who take jobs in underserved areas, as well as experiment with signing bonuses to attract new applicants.
The IARSS also recommends amending the pension plan to allow teachers to retire at 55 years of age for reduced rates.
Certification
Currently, becoming a teacher in Illinois requires a Professional Educator License. To receive one, a prospective teacher requires at least a bachelor’s degree, student teaching experience, the completion of a state-approved teaching program and a licensing test.
Licensing tests are split into several grade levels, and teachers certified in one grade level are not considered suitable for hire under a different grade level unless they successfully pass a license exam for that as well.
An educator certified for early childhood can hold a position teaching from birth to grade 2, while an elementary certified educator can teach from grade 1 to 6, and a middle grades educator from grades 5 to 8.
During the pandemic, ISBE, in conjunction with the Illinois Community College Board and Illinois Board of Higher Education, granted endorsement waivers as part of Gov. JB Pritzker’s emergency order to allow schools to fill positions with teachers certified for grade levels or subjects other than the ones they were hired to teach.
IARSS recommends continuing this practice as a temporary measure as well as auditing whether current licensing restrictions are unnecessary or have exacerbated shortages.
For endorsement areas with a high rate of unfilled positions, such as special education, mathematics and school psychologists, IARSS has recommended ISBE look at increasing funding for higher education programs offering certificates in those fields, as well as creating pipelines to transition students from rural school districts to nearby colleges to become teachers in short-staffed positions.
Education budget
After initially keeping funding for K-12 education flat at about $8.8 billion for the fiscal year in his initial February budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year, Pritzker reversed course earlier this month and announced he was calling for $350 million to be added to the budget for education.
That’s in line with the evidence-based school funding model of 2017, which calls for that amount of money to be added to the formula each year.
Education advocates, including bipartisan members of the General Assembly, have strongly praised the evidence-based funding model, which allocates state dollars to districts according to the gap between them and what the state considers to be a required level of adequacy. Each district’s adequacy target is determined by a school district’s ability to fund proper staffing, student resources and moderate class sizes, among other factors.
Klaisner suggested the state should use that evidence-based formula to distribute federal COVID-19 stimulus dollars, including around $5 billion for education received as part of the American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden. Pritzker, as well as the U.S. Department of Education, has placed parameters on how funding should be spent, and both have strongly discouraged using the stimulus money to pay salaries.
So far, school districts have used the stimulus money they have received in ways as varied as the school districts themselves. According to Klaisner, one school district used what he called “flash in the pan money” – one time funds that should be used for one-time expenditures and not long-term costs like teacher salary – to replace its decade-old fleet of buses.
In Collinsville, a city of under 30,000 located in the Metro East region near St. Louis, the school district used $300,000 in stimulus funds to construct a broadband tower, creating a private network to provide high-speed internet access to underserved students and their families throughout the school district.
Ongoing inequities
While an analysis shows the teacher shortage has actually improved over the last four years, particularly in suburban and urban parts of the state, there continues to be a great disparity in the availability of teachers between rural and metropolitan regions.
A post-survey analysis by the IARSS shows geographic location was the number one factor negatively impacting recruitment, ahead of salary and pension. Over 50 percent of school districts said their geographic location had a negative impact.
In 2019, Cook County and surrounding collar counties had 240 unfilled or underfilled positions, while that number was 228 for the west central region. By 2020, Cook County had reduced that figure to just 91, while the west central region had 257 unfilled positions.
The disparities also exist along racial lines. When controlling for the size of the district, the IARSS analysis found that the racial makeup of the student body – even more than location – was the number one predictor of whether positions in that district would be underfilled or have below-average retention rates for staff.
The higher the proportion of white students a school district had, the fewer underfilled positions.
The analysis also concluded that there was no association between vacancies and the proportion of low-income students, and that racial demographics were also a greater factor than the proportion of English-learning or English-as-a-second-language students.
Klaisner noted that research shows students who belong to an ethnic or racial minority benefit when at least one of their instructors belong to the same racial or ethnic group as them.
“We see all over the state, the demographics are very clear that oftentimes our staffs don’t represent the students that they serve, and we feel like that would be a value add, if not essential,” he said, pointing to policies like minority teacher grants and ISBE initiatives to recruit teachers of color.
Despite this, the IARSS white paper concluded the most important predictors of success when it came to hiring and retaining staff was educator pay and how close the school district was to a teacher preparation program. Stakeholders should focus on addressing these factors, according to the analysis.
“While districts may not be able to change their geography or student demographics, they do have some control over teacher salaries, and institutions of higher education have some role to play in working to serve the state’s ‘higher education deserts,’” the IARSS said in their report.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Local News
EPCHS adds Emmy-winning actor Gary Sievers to Hall of Fame
Spread the loveEvergreen Park Community High School has added a name to its list of Hall of Famers. Gary Sievers, a 1968 EPCHS graduate who became well-known for his acting, public speaking, work in radio and television, community service, civic leadership and teaching, was posthumously inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame during the Honors…
Worth vehicle sticker applications ‘lost’ in the mail
Spread the loveBy Joe Boyle Worth Village Clerk Bonnie Price said that even though application forms for village vehicle stickers were sent out to the post office last month residents were still waiting to receive those applications. “We have been doing this for 15 years,” Price said during the Worth Village Board meeting May 7. “This…
Hunt killer in ‘drifting’ slaying
Spread the love. Police seek witnesses, video of 59/Western . By Tim Hadac Police are appealing to the public to help find those responsible for the slaying of a 20-year-old West Englewood man during a takeover of the intersection at 59th and Western at 3:21 a.m. Sunday, May 5. The victim–identified as Guillermo “Memito” Caballero…
Mom gets 20 years in babies’ murder
Spread the love. Stuffed her newborn twin boys in an alley garbage cart . By Tim Hadac The books closed this month on a double murder that shocked and sickened many in the Garfield Ridge area more than 20 years ago. Antoinette Briley, 44, pled guilty on May 7 to murdering her twin baby boys…
Ladies lead the way to stylish Kentucky Derby fun
Spread the love As a tip of the cap–so to speak–to the Kentucky Derby, acclaimed chef Gloria Hafer (second from right) visited the Garfield Ridge Satellite Senior Center last week to cook a burgoo (a thick stew traditionally popular in the South). For an added bit of fun, the center had a derby contest. Among…
Seek donations for charity at Two Holy Martyrs
Spread the love. By Tim Hadac The Society of St. Vincent de Paul chapter at Two Holy Martyrs Parish will host a bundle weekend on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19. Volunteers will staff two trailers at the St. Rene Goupil Church parking lot, 64th and New England, from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday…
Palos Park finance director heading to Westmont
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Palos Park was in good hands with Altic. Finance director/treasurer Allen Altic is leaving the village later this month to take a similar position in Westmont, just a few miles from his home in Downers Grove. Altic was an assistant finance director in Bloomingdale from 2012 to 2020, when he…
Orland Township hosting free senior health fair
Spread the loveOrland Township and Supervisor Paul O’Grady are hosting a senior health fair to provide free health services and information to senior citizens on Tuesday, May 21, from 9 a.m. until noon at Orland Township, located at 14807 S. Ravinia Ave., Orland Park. The Senior Health Fair is an excellent opportunity for seniors to…
District 128 teacher joins Golden Apple Accelerator Program
Spread the loveBy Kelly White A Palos Heights School District 128 educator was selected to be a part of the Golden Apple Accelerator Program. Also, a District 128 alum, Moira Touhy, a paraprofessional at Independence Junior High School, 6610 W. Highland Dr., Palos Heights, will be participating in the 15-month online program specifically geared toward…
Neighbors
So long, and see you around
Spread the loveBy Karen Sala Your correspondent in Gage Park (773) 471-1429 • karen.sala@hotmail.com Baby, it’s cold outside. It’s almost the end of January. I am so ready. I can’t wait for spring to get here. The only good thing about winter is when it’s over. However, I do like cooking and baking in the winter.…
It truly is a small world
Spread the loveBy Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 I have been attending St Rita Church for many years now. In that time, I have come to know many people who are now or have been a part of the parish. Some I knew because…
Jobs opportunities abound
Spread the loveBy Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place • (773) 284-7394 “Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go…it ain’t no trick to get rich quick,” as the dwarfs sang in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. If you are looking for employment, there seems to…
Clearing carjacker/kidnapper still at large
Spread the loveSenior citizen forced into her own car, loses $1,200 By Tim Hadac More than three weeks after an elderly woman was carjacked and kidnapped in Clearing, police have not made an arrest in the case. The crime occurred at about 4 p.m. on New Year’s Day. A 75-year-old Clearing woman was clearing snow…
Lyons man is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro
Spread the loveBy Steve Metsch While you’re reading this story, Lyons resident Stephan Alheim will be busy climbing the tallest mountain in Africa. Alheim is one of 10 adventurers who this week are climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, which is 19,341 feet tall. They started climbing Jan. 23 and are expected to reach…
Willow Springs expected to hire Lyons official as village administrator
Spread the loveBy Steve Metsch Ryan Grace, public works director in Lyons for the past four years, is expected to be hired as the Willow Springs village administrator tonight. The village board is expected to approve his hiring during its 7 p.m. meeting. Grace, 38, said he was offered the job by Willow Springs Mayor…
Chicago Ridge librarian knocks off ‘Jeopardy’ champion
Spread the loveBy Kelly White Rhone Talsma grew up watching “Jeopardy!” – the classic game show with a twist where the answers are given first, and the contestants supply the questions. On Wednesday, Talsma knocked off 40-day champion Amy Schneider and won almost $30,000 in the process of becoming the new champion. Locally, the show…
Seven Mt. Carmel wrestlers win titles, help Caravan to Chicago Catholic League crown; Brother Rice takes 3rd
Spread the loveBy Steve Millar Correspondent Ryan Boersma did not get the opportunity to become a four-time Catholic League champion because the COVID-19 pandemic caused to the cancellation of the conference tournament. But winning three Catholic League championships at two schools, and wrapping it up by winning a Lawless Award for the league’s best senior…
Davion Lawrence’s double-double leads Oak Lawn over Richards
Spread the loveBy Steve Millar Correspondent When they were growing up, Johnny McGowan had the upper hand when squaring off on the court against Davion Lawrence. “Me and him go way back,” said McGowan, a senior guard at Oak Lawn. “He used to sleep over at my house when we were younger. We went to…
Funds flow to Back of the Yards
Spread the loveFour groups get grants; millions more available By Tim Hadac Four organizations in Back of the Yards—three businesses and a non-profit—are among 31 awarded more than $14.4 million in small business grants being allocated through the Chicago Recovery Plan. They are: Diaz Group Office Space, 5100 S. Damen, $250,000. El Nuevo Guadalajara, 4350…