SC hits record high for number of vacant teacher positions, report finds
South Carolina has again set an alarming milestone for K-12 schools.
Teacher vacancies have reached a record high, surpassing a record set just a few months ago, according to the Center for Educator, Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement, a state-funded group that seeks to study and boost teacher retention.
As of February, South Carolina had 1,121 vacant teacher positions, which tops the record set in September/October of 1,033 teacher vacancies. The fall vacancy count was the highest number of teacher vacancies since the center began tracking open positions roughly 20 years ago.
For comparison, S.C. schools had only 680 teacher vacancies in the fall of 2020, according to the center.
Teachers have been leaving the profession for years because of relatively low pay and classroom working conditions — such as large class sizes, a perceived lack of administrative support, a lack of child care options and school district leadership, The State reported previously.
The findings make clear many S.C. teachers are leaving the profession in the middle of the school year. Since the October/September vacancy count, 977 teachers have left their jobs, according to the center’s data.
“In effect, approximately 1,000 teachers in our state were so dissatisfied with their working conditions that they were willing to leave their current job and to walk away from a profession in which they had invested time, finances, and energy,” the Palmetto State Teachers Association said in a news release.
There aren’t enough data to say, long term, whether it’s unusual for teacher vacancies to spike in the middle of the year. The center has only been tracking mid-year teacher vacancies for the last two years.
The ongoing and worsening teacher shortage also has a tendency to cascade by creating more work for teachers filling the void created by teachers who left the profession and burning out teachers even faster, according to the association’s press release.
While S.C. officials at both the state and district level have successfully sought to increase teacher pay, whether through a salarie increases or through one-time bonuses, surveys have indicated teachers’ grievances with schools go further than just pay, The State reported previously.
However, teachers across the board say pay is still part of the solution. The teachers association applauded a bill in the S.C. State House to increase teacher pay, but said more still needs to be done.
“Reversing a trend of this scope also requires transformative actions such as enforcing limits on class sizes, streamlining annual evaluation processes, creating opportunities for increased teacher leadership roles, and reducing state and local mandates that diminish time for teachers to develop and deliver the world class instruction our students deserve,” the teachers association said in the news release.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 12:08 PM.