![]() ![]() ![]() Teachers make up less than half of the K-12 workforce, which includes more than 6 million people. There’s little doubt the pandemic has punctured the persistent enthusiasm for serving students that keeps many school employees going even in tough conditions. “Even thinking about going somewhere else, it depresses me.” The bus driver shortage hits hard “I’m energized by working with the students,” she said. Why does Bennett keep going after more than two decades working K-12 jobs like these, despite the exhaustion she and colleagues routinely endure? ![]() What often gets overlooked, though, is the impact the workers who fill these positions have on students and their learning experiences.ĭaisy Bennett, a paraprofessional who works at two schools in Orange County, Calif., works with a student at Brea Olinda High School. The essential workers in schoolsįor district leaders, staffing difficulties add another layer of chaos to the already challenging task of keeping schools running, especially during a pandemic. Some of these shortages are far more severe than usual, while others existed long before the pandemic. Interviews with economists, administrators, and employees reveal a complex array of factors causing the school hiring headaches: Fears over health and safety, frustrations over longstanding pay gaps and inequities, and political disagreements over masks and vaccines. (The data include both K-12 and higher education jobs, but K-12 typically makes up roughly three-quarters of the overall numbers.) The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly tracking of job openings in public education offers a clue, though: More than 446,000 jobs were open in June, and 460,000 in July, compared with less than half those figures at the same point last year. As anecdotes pile up, wide-ranging data on staff shortages in schools remain elusive. ![]()
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