After the COVID-19 pandemic caused shortages in a variety of work fields, the state of Missouri is working to fill the gaps in the classroom setting by making it easier to become a substitute teacher.
In an effort to combat staffing challenges in schools, provisions relating to substitute teaching were passed in Senate Bill 681 and signed by Gov. Mike Parson.
“One of them was about online training to be offered by the department,” said Paul Katnik, assistant commissioner of the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education. “We actually started doing it two years ago and ran that for about six months and then put a pause on it. We gathered some data in the spring that looked like it was working out fine, and so we reinstated it. Previous to the online training, you had to have 60 semester hours to be a substitute teacher in the state, and it reduced the 60 semester hours down to 36.”
Katnik said the online training provision was made after tracking substitute certificate data for the past four years.
“The reason we put in the online training is because we could see what was happening with the data and how much less folks were certifying,” Katnik said. “I think the things we’ve put in place have certainly seen a rebound from when we were in the middle of the pandemic.”
Katnik said many questions are looked at when assessing the shortages in the education field.
“I think the question you ask yourself is, is it that do we not have enough certificated people to be subs? Or do we not have enough people with a substitute certificate who actually want to work as a sub?” Katnik said. “I would guess that it’s kind of a combination of the two.
According to the National Education Association, Missouri is ranked No. 50 in the United States for starting salaries for teachers, with the average starting salary at $33,234.
“Missouri is not one of the highest paying states in the country,” Katnik said. “We’re trying to work on that. There’s a lot of things that are underway trying to work on that particular issue. So if you add that in there too, it certainly adds to the trouble.”
Brian Kraus, assistant superintendent of human resources for the St. Joseph School District, said they are definitely having the same struggles that other districts are.
“We currently have all of our certified teaching positions filled with the exception of one or two,” Kraus said. “In terms of substitutes, we have a third-party contractor who hires our substitute teachers for us, but I know that they’re struggling to get enough qualified people to fill our jobs.”
Katnik said on top of the lower salaries for starting teachers in Missouri, the pandemic also accelerated shortages in the education jobs.
“It’s been a pretty tough job to do the last couple of years,” Katnik said. “All of our jobs have changed over the past couple of years. I think teaching has gotten a little more challenging. At one time, early in the pandemic, teachers were kind of seen as heroes. Then there seemed to be a shift at some point to being seen as villains and getting caught in some political stuff going on out there and that makes it tough.”
While the problem is prominent in Missouri, Katnik emphasized that it’s an issue nationwide.
“I think we’re seeing a lot of the same stuff when you talk about teacher shortages overall,” Katnik said. “Shortages in areas like math and science and special education, certainly other states are dealing with that as well. We have drops in enrollment in our teacher education programs across the state. We sure would like to have higher retention rates and that we weren’t losing as many, but I think there’s other states that are dealing with that as well.”
Kraus agreed that COVID-19 exacerbated shortages in many industries.
“There were a large number of people in all industries that took early retirement during COVID and I don’t think society in general has recovered from that quite yet,” Kraus said. “Education is not the only industry that’s suffering from a shortage of workers. If you drive around town, about every business you drive by, you’re going to see help wanted or hiring. We just seem to be struggling to find enough people who are willing to work.”
While it is not confirmed the provisions have helped with the shortages in Missouri, Katnik said in the last few months he’s seen higher numbers of certificates issued for substitute teachers than he’s seen in all four years of tracking.
“Some big jumps,” Katnik said. “I don’t know if we can say that lowering to 36 hours caused that or if it’s the combination of all the things we’ve been doing that have caused that. I’ll be really interested to see what October looks like. It’ll be the third month in a row where numbers have been higher than even from before the pandemic.”
Kraus said so far, the St. Joseph School District has not seen any notable changes since the certification provisions.
“I don’t think it’s made a significant difference,” Kraus said. “Last year, they also made a change to where a substitute teacher could take a 20-hour course through DESE to earn their substitute certificate. We’ve seen some increase, but nothing significant.”
For more information on how to get involved in the education field, visit DESE’s website at www.dese.mo.gov.
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