BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) As the new school year approaches, a nationwide teacher shortage is hitting crisis levels. The Economic Policy Institute projects a demand for around 300,000 new teachers across the country by 2024.
Teachers blame low pay, pandemic stress and politics for driving them away.
"Locally, I think it's a little better than it is nationally," said Michael Cornell,
President of the Erie Niagara School Superintendent's Association. "Teacher pay and benefits in New York State is better than teacher pay and benefits in a lot of states," he said.
Teachers in New York State are required to have Masters degrees and other advanced certificates. Cornell contends that the pay in the state is commensurate with the requirements.
The Niagara Falls City School District has been working since April to fill vacancies. "We're currently about 5 staff members short, which I don't think is bad, " said Superintendent Mark Laurrie. "We also have to account for a couple of maternity leaves." The district employs 13-hundred staff members.
Florida has about 8-thousand teacher openings. Kansas is missing 14-hundred teachers. In San Francisco, the school district is using emergency permits to waive the usual credentials.
Many districts are offering increased bonuses, and smaller class sizes to attract the teaching staff they need when school returns this fall.
One area that continues to be a concern for Niagara Falls schools, as well as many other districts, is bus drivers. "That is not getting better in any way, shape or form," said Laurrie.
He blames the shortage on a combination of factors. "It's pay, and the opportunity to choose your employer, "If you work for a delivery company, you can work a straight eight hours and not a split shift. Plus, being a bus driver, the process to get a commercial driver's license (CDL) can take a minimum of 8-10 weeks," he added.
Laurrie said the district found a way around the bus driver shortage, by changing the starting time for high school students. Starting in September, high school students in Niagara Falls will arrive at the same time as middle school students each day. It will allow the bus drivers to bring those students to school and then turn around and pick up elementary students. "It's counter-intuitive to all research. But it was the only option," he said, and "the only way that we thought we could handle the situation."