Unfilled staffing positions at schools across the United States have reached "crisis levels" according to David Law, the new superintendent in the Minnetonka Public School District.
Law, who previously led the Anoka-Hennepin District, began his role with Minnetonka Public Schools earlier this year. He spoke to WCCO Radio's Vineeta Sawkar on Wednesday about what he's hearing from his peers.
"I sit on the American Association of Superintendents executive board so I get that scope from across the country a couple of times a year," Law said. "I'm concerned for the number of people going to school to get their teacher's license."
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Law said many prospective teachers may no longer pursue teaching due to it no longer being an attractive profession and because the compensation may not cover the cost of education moving forward.
"It's a concern around the state," he said.
According to Law, his peers report that open special education positions largely remain unfilled.
"There just aren't applicants. I have peers that have posted a job and no one applies. They'll repost it and we're at a spot where we're reassigning people. Even for a job that used to have dozens of applicants, you could post a second grade position in October that would receive 15 applicants. Now you're lucky if you get two, or one."
The National Education Association, which is the largest teachers' union in the United States, shares the same concerns as Law. In fact, they reported in August that the US has 300,000 teacher and school staff vacancies.
"There's a shortage of people coming into education and it's going to cause some challenges for schools across the country," added Law. "Certainly our greater-Minnesota peers feel this the hardest because they have a smaller application pool in general. We're going to need to be creative to attract people to this profession."