Spring Hiring: Facing an Uncertain Fall and a Grim Economic Forecast, Many Districts Are Rethinking How — and Whether — to Bring On New Teachers
Faced with a challenging economic situation and uncertainty regarding the future of schools in the upcoming fall, several district officials are opting to pause or significantly reduce their hiring of new teachers for the next academic year.
Kim Holland, the director of recruitment and retention for Spokane Public Schools in Washington, states that they will slow down their hiring process and only fill essential positions. Normally, the district hires around 125 to 175 teachers for their 31,000-student population, but due to financial emergency measures and potential layoffs, they need to be cautious.
According to Dan Goldhaber, director of the Center for Education Data and Research at the University of Washington, approximately 100,000 teachers are hired in the United States annually, and this number varies depending on the state of the economy.
The current economic conditions are causing school officials to hesitate as they typically engage in the hiring process during this time. The uncertain economy poses challenges for municipal and state budgets, leading to delays in budgetary decisions. Additionally, the number of teacher retirements is difficult to predict. Combined with the prospect of implementing a new setup to protect students and staff from COVID-19, it is understandable that school officials are feeling apprehensive.
The Council of the Great City Schools has requested at least $175 billion from Congress to prevent potential layoffs. If revenue cuts of up to 25 percent occur, it could result in 275,000 teacher layoffs in large city public school systems, as stated in an April 28 letter.
The situation in Portland, Maine, reflects what is happening across the country. With 6,750 students, the district typically hires 40 to 50 teachers each year as their budget increases by up to 5 percent annually. However, because the expected 3 percent budget increase this year may diminish to zero, the district is facing a $5 million shortfall. Consequently, they have refrained from advertising new teaching positions.
While many districts are choosing to pause hiring, there are exceptions. The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest district in the country, plans to proceed as usual and hire 2,000 new certified staff, including teachers, school psychologists, nurses, and other roles, despite the uncertainty. Los Angeles largely depends on state funding, which is typically determined in late June, and Superintendent Austin Beutner stated that significant reductions in staffing are not anticipated for the upcoming school year.
D.C. Public Schools, as reported by The Washington Post, currently has 450 openings and plans to utilize virtual job fairs to aid the hiring process.
In addition to economic factors, officials also need to consider how schools will operate in the fall. Various plans are being considered, ranging from continuing online education to returning to normal in-person schooling. However, most ideas involve implementing some form of social distancing measures. For instance, students might attend school in shifts, either on the same or alternating days.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera predicts that schools will look different in the fall, as officials need to reconsider aspects such as transportation, school cafeterias, and students wearing masks. President Trump expressed his desire for schools to resume as normal, but acknowledged the possibility that older or immunocompromised teachers may need to delay in-person teaching. Superintendent Beutner of Los Angeles reiterated that the school year will begin on schedule but did not specify whether schools would physically reopen or continue with virtual learning.
Georgia’s Gwinnett County Public Schools initially planned for teachers to return on May 18 to teach virtually for three days while closing their classrooms for the year. However, after receiving concerns from teachers, officials decided to eliminate the three-day requirement.
The idea of hiring additional teachers to ensure social distancing in the fall, as Denmark recently did, has not been extensively discussed in Spokane. Denmark only allows 10 students per classroom, whereas Spokane’s typical class size is larger. This approach would result in significant costs for staffing, according to Holland.
If any hiring does occur, it will require districts to modify their usual face-to-face practices. In Los Angeles and other districts that are cutting back on hiring, interviews and sample lessons are now being conducted online. Los Angeles officials have already conducted approximately 500 teacher interviews online. (The district, which has around 24,000 teachers, hires throughout the year.)
Normally, the district requires teacher candidates to perform a sample lesson before their application is evaluated and sent to school principals for a final decision. However, during the pandemic, applicants are submitting video lessons instead, according to Bryan Johnson, the director of certified workforce management.
Graduating students from UConn’s Neag School of Education are now creating online lesson plans to showcase to potential employers, with school professors providing feedback and critique.
The number of teachers to be hired this fall will also depend on how many current teachers decide to retire. Like in many districts, teachers in Los Angeles often wait until the last minute to announce their retirement, explains Ileana Dávalos, the chief human resources officer.
In Highline Public Schools, located just south of Seattle, Superintendent Susan Enfield plans to reduce her workforce by 24 positions this fall and move current full-time teachers into the substitute pool. She hopes that resignations later in the spring will help balance the projected changes. "The state budget forecast is quite bleak," she remarks.
While some officials believe that a recession will discourage teachers from retiring, there is a possibility that the rapid transition to online learning may be prompting some teachers to retire earlier than planned. Although Spokane has not experienced a significant increase in retirements, there are some teachers who are expediting their retirement plans due to the shift to online learning.
On the candidate side, some soon-to-be graduates had their student teaching experiences cut short, while others were unable to take necessary certification tests.
UConn’s Traynor mentions that the state has offered interim certification to graduates who are unable to fulfill the usual requirements. However, it becomes complicated for the university’s 174 graduates when seeking jobs outside of Connecticut, as each state has its own rules and regulations.
Enfield reflects that all the disruption caused by the pandemic may ultimately lead to a transformation in how districts approach teaching students. She shares an example of a teacher in her district who struggled during the school year but excelled when instruction shifted online. "We need to recognize where teachers are strongest. Although this conversation hasn’t happened yet, these decisions will require collective bargaining. They are sensitive and controversial issues."
She concludes with a final thought acknowledging the uncertainty. When teachers eventually return to school, she predicts they will be "heartbroken" to see how much learning students have lost over the past few months. However, the necessary resources to address these concerns may not be available in the way they are needed.