School districts grapple with teacher shortages | News, sports, work

LANSING — Many teachers and other experts say Michigan has a teacher shortage that is hitting many small, rural communities hardest.

Audra DeRidder, who teaches fifth-grade math and science in Iron Mountain Public Schools, works in one. “Rural school districts are quite isolated and initially had difficulty attracting new teachers,” she said.

In her opinion, the lack of financial resources makes it even more difficult to recruit new teachers.

There are many certified teachers with emergency credentials in the Iron Mountain district, she said, referring to those who are hired to teach a subject for which they are not licensed. “Unlicensed teachers may be good teachers but may lack teaching skills or additional information on a topic that a student needs,” she said.

DeRidder also mentors new teachers in his district and is the director of special education.

“Small districts don’t have a lot of staff and everyone wears a lot of hats,” she said.

She says one of the biggest problems facing rural counties is the lack of mental health services.

“The closest place we can send a student to is two hours away,” she said. “Families face a dilemma – do they keep commuting this far, do they pay out of pocket, or do they move to another place?”

According to a January study by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, rural districts in Michigan are having particular difficulty attracting qualified candidates for specialized fields, including science and special education.

According to the report, research has shown that hiring science teachers with specialized training in the specific area of ​​science they teach is positively associated with student achievement. However, only 84.5% of Michigan science teachers are qualified, and that percentage was lower in 2022-2023 than in 2021-2022.

James Gell is a physics teacher at Plymouth High School in Canton Township and the regional representative for the Michigan chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

“I have observed that fewer new teachers mean that some classrooms have long-term substitute teachers instead of full-time teachers,” he said.

“When selecting candidates for vacant positions, it is difficult to find more than three or four worth inviting for an interview, and the number of strong candidates is small. Twenty years ago, it was not uncommon to receive hundreds of applications for open science positions.”

Donald Wotruba, executive director of the Michigan Association of School Boards, said both rural and urban districts struggle with recruiting and retaining staff.

Wotruba said the Michigan Legislature all but eliminated state funding for mental health counseling in schools in 2024. On September 25, lawmakers passed a bill restoring $125 million for mental health and school safety efforts, but it likely won’t go into effect until in early 2025

Past reductions have contributed to a shortage of mental health counselors, he said.

“Some districts are even considering using telehealth,” Wotruba said, although some experts say it is a less effective way to provide mental health services than in person.

According to Wotruba, it is more difficult to manage students.

“They seem to have less impulse control,” he said, which has led to more arguments between students and teachers.

“Without support,” Wotruba said, “who would want to work in an environment like this?”

Wotruba said that due to the shortage of people interested in teaching jobs, districts have fewer qualified candidates and may have to settle for someone with less training and experience than in the past.

Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox