Rural Schools in Wisconsin Facing Critical Teacher Shortage

Wednesday, August 10th, 2022 -- 9:01 AM

(By Leah Treidler, Wisconsin Public Radio) Though the first day of school is less than a month away, Independence School District is still searching for a high school English teacher and Spanish teacher. So far, they’ve had zero applicants.

According to Leah Treidler with Wisconsin Public Radio, in the district with 40 teachers, the staffing crunch has major consequences, said Paul Franzwa, the district administrator.

"Now we're three weeks out and redoing our schedule, because we're down two teachers," he said. "And to disperse that many kids into other classes really throws a wrench into things." Franzwa said they’ve cut electives, and they’re planning to increase class sizes.

Though he’s worked in schools for years, Franzwa said he’s never had this much trouble finding staff. "I was a former elementary principal," he said. "A dozen years ago ... in rural Mondovi, which is just south of Eau Claire, we'd have over 100 applicants for an elementary job."

Staffing shortages are becoming common at schools across the state, said Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, a former teacher and the president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council. "The educator shortage has been a mounting problem for a long time," she said. "We've got this alarming number of teachers who have left the profession because of unrealistic workloads, low pay, and lack of input in school decisions."

Many teachers, she said, have taken on second jobs, like driving for Uber, to make up for low pay. But the past few years have brought the issue to a head. Teachers have been forced to work longer hours and enforce pandemic safety protocols, all while being dragged into the center of a culture war, she said. According to Wirtz-Olsen that’s sunk teacher morale and led many to leave the profession altogether.

"We saw a 14 percent increase in teacher retirements back in 2020," she said. "And our teacher education programs continue to report lower enrollments, meaning there aren't enough future teachers in the pipeline to replace all those that are leaving."

According to a 2021 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum on the teacher workforce in southeast Wisconsin, the number of students graduating with degrees in education has been falling for the past decade.

Coupled with the state’s aging population, it said staffing shortages are likely to get worse. The main way to solve the issue, Wirtz-Olsen said, is raising pay. According to the National Education Association, the average starting salary for teachers in Wisconsin is $38,961, ranking 34th in the nation.

That’s below the state’s minimum living wage of $53,239. But the state Legislature has hampered schools’ ability to raise pay, said Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Executive Director Tom McCarthy.

The Legislature froze funding for schools in 2021, forcing schools to use federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act. That money is set to dry up by September 2024, and with a funding cliff looming, McCarthy said schools are struggling to plan ahead.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.