(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A trade association that lobbies Springfield on behalf of school superintendents across the state says there’s a shortage of teachers and substitutes, with the problem so bad that classes have had to be cancelled in some districts.
Even before COVID, Mark Klaisner, president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools, said things were at a crisis point for a variety of reasons: teachers taking early retirement, burnout and lack of applicants for teaching jobs.
“Then you just lay COVID on top of it, and you’ve got the perfect storm,” Klaisner said Tuesday.
Now, the shortage is much worse, even in the Chicago area, which was among the last areas to be affected, he said.
“A typical substitute in the northeast corner of Illinois is making about $100 or $110 dollars a day,” he said. “And so school districts started to raise the pay for substitutes. And I knew of one district that raised the pay as much as $200 and still could not fill all the substitute vacancies.”
One solution, Klaisner said, is to make it easier and more attractive for people looking for second careers to get into teaching.
Related
