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“I
think there are a few things that are going on that make it more
likely that Black and Latino students and students that come
from low-income homes are disproportionately impacted by teacher
shortages,” Steans told The Center Square. “First, they are more
likely to be in schools that are in underfunded districts and
underfunded districts are harder to staff.”
Some districts may not be able to offer competitive salaries,
something Steans said means a poorly funded district is less
likely to have the full staffing structure that makes the job of
a classroom teacher more doable.
“The day-to-day working conditions a teacher is contending with
can be much more challenging,” she said.
Stean’s latest push comes after a new watchdog report found that
minority students and those from low-income households face
school vacancy levels more than two times greater than the rest
of the state. “The State of Our Educator Pipeline 2023” report
also details how school districts across the state are
struggling to fill special education and bilingual teaching
positions, again with the overall impact having a
disproportionate effect on Black and Latino students.
Overall, 35% of Black and 22% of low-income students in Illinois
now reside in high vacancy districts, compared to just 8% of
white students.
“I mean, those are just unacceptable disparities,” added Steans,
whose plan for change calls for switching up the way things are
done at state and local level
“First, we need to continue to fully fund the K-12 school
funding, evidence based formula,” she said. “Those dollars are
the dollars that districts can use to both increase salaries and
fully staff schools. It matters enormously that teachers be in a
fully staffed school so that their children are getting that
support and so are they as teachers.”
Steans adds a growing number of young people are now expressing
interest in teaching and a recent study found that the sooner
they formally enter the profession the more likely they are to
remain in the classroom assisting others.
“I think the work that we’re doing in middle and high school
with these pathways is a wonderful opportunity to spread the
word about teaching,” she said. “I think this effort to create
these pathways is a very big idea. It’s a wonderful pipeline, a
much more diverse pipeline and the state’s got to continue to
invest in these efforts.”
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