Indiana’s Teacher Shortage Has Some Schools Scrambling

Source: WFYI Indianapolis | Repost Fight for Life Foundation 7/12/2022 –

Matt Shockley needs two math teachers and has zero applicants.

Shockley is principal of Avon High School, located 14 miles west of downtown Indianapolis. Avon students return to school at the end of this month. If Shockley can’t fill those positions, class sizes could increase, or students might be left with a long-term substitute who may not be qualified to teach the subject.

“This is the most challenging hiring climate I have had in my 18 years of being a principal,” Shockley said. “It has been very difficult.”

There are more than 2,300 teaching positions posted on the Indiana Department of Education’s new online job board, as of July 7. Additionally, there are nearly 900 open student support positions, like school counselors, classroom aides and cafeteria employees.

Summer is typically a busy hiring season for schools. And it’s unclear if these vacancies represent a worsening teacher shortage, because the IDOE does not maintain comparable data for prior years, according to Holly Lawson, a spokesperson for the agency. Lawson wrote in an email that IDOE switched from its old job bank to a new platform in March of this year. Lawson wrote that nearly every school corporation in the state – and many charter and nonpublic schools – are using the new job board to post positions in real time, which wasn’t possible with their previous system.

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