Twin Falls Idaho may not seem like the perfect summary of the teacher shortage – but it is. In an article today it provides the perfect insight into what is happening in the teacher pipeline.
Teacher hiring is up due to improved school budgets. School budgets are driven in large part (44% on average) by local taxes with only 15% coming from the feds and the rest coming from the state. So budgets have improved as property taxes have generated more revenue.
At the same time education school graduates are way down – more than half over the last 10 years.
And the shortage hits the usual areas the hardest – STEM, Special Education, Rural and high needs schools struggle to find the talent they need.
School budgets are finally increasing yet we can’t find staff so class sizes will continue to increase.
