Classes are full of students but missing teachers

Schools are in full swing. Classes are packed with students, but some are missing a full-time teacher.

If there’s a vacancy in most professions, another colleague takes up the slack. But teaching is unique. It’s impossible to make an unfilled teaching vacancy invisible since there are always 25 or 30 student witnesses.

The exact number of unfilled teaching vacancies is hard to determine. The Iowa Department of Education (IDE) won’t release official numbers until late this year. So, is the shortage a crisis, or nothing to worry about?

My answer is there’s no teacher shortage, but there’s a crisis.

There’s a serious shortage of professionals willing to work in an occupation where, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), “Teachers earn 26.6% less than equally degreed peers.”

But in Iowa, a “pay penalty” is not the only problem. Some legislators from the majority party are calling teachers names like “groomers” or “pornographers,” and claiming they’re guilty of teaching “woke ideology.” New graduates don’t want to be made into political pawns.

Because of these legislative actions, there are serious consequences. Fort Dodge Community school’s eighth grade has only one math and one science teacher for 250 students. Cedar Rapids schools are missing two elementary art teachers, one elementary music teacher, and one third grade teacher. In the high schools the district is missing one science, one math teacher, and four special education teachers.

A recent article published by the IDE boasts that Iowa’s teacher workforce has grown by 10% and the “Pipeline is strong.” It claims, “98% of the vacancies are filled.” But those numbers include private and charter schools.

In contrast, on Aug. 18, a week before school began the We are Iowa website reported there were 3,000 jobs listed on the Department of Education’s hiring hub with approximately 650 classroom teaching jobs unfilled.

In a WHO TV news segment just days before schools began, it reported Teach Iowa still had 500 open teaching jobs.

A district’s first choice is to find a qualified substitute. But by Iowa law, a long-term substitute can only fill a vacancy for 90 days.

I’m certainly not throwing shade at substitutes. They’re essential. Any subbing job is hard. Long-term subbing is even harder. There’s also a severe substitute teacher shortage.

If a district can’t find a long-term substitute, and If the school is large enough for multiple elementary sections of a grade, they can combine sections. So, a class of 18 becomes a class of 36. In a small school, districts must consider combining grade levels.

At the high school level, it may mean online classes or canceling classes like physics or advanced math.

The Bible tells us,” For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” The Iowa legislative majority sowed the wind by not adequately funding schools and attacking teachers. Now, our kids are reaping the whirlwind of full classrooms with no teacher.

Bruce Lear taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. He lives in Sioux City. BruceLear2419@gmail.com