With just weeks to go before students return for a new school year, Westbrook Superintendent Peter Lancia is feeling pretty confident.

As the end of the last school year approached, the school department had about 60 positions to fill, from teachers to support staff and bus drivers. Knowing it wouldn’t be easy at a time when schools are struggling to hire, the district launched its hiring push months early and was more intentional about how it described the jobs, schools and district’s mission.

Only 13 open positions remain, mostly in special education. Lancia is sure most of them will be filled before the first day of school on Aug. 28.

“We were able to get ahead of the pack,” he said.

As in years past, school districts across Maine and the nation are scrambling to fill vacant positions in the midst of a long-running educator shortage that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey by the National Center for Educational Statistics released in December, 8% of teachers moved to a different school between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, and 8% left the profession.

In some areas of the state, parents and current and former staff are worried about the number of people leaving their districts for other jobs.

The Maine Department of Education does not track turnover rates or vacancies among school staff, according to a department spokesperson. But it’s clear that some local school districts are still struggling, especially in special education, school leaders say.

“That’s a nationwide trend,” said Shelley Kane, who leads recruitment for Biddeford, Saco and Dayton schools. “There is definitely a shortage of special education teachers.”

A PUSH FOR MORE PAY

School officials say low pay is one of the biggest challenges in attracting and retaining staff. Educators and activists have repeatedly called on the state to raise minimum salaries.

The average pay for a classroom teacher in Maine is $60,054, according to the department of education. But the minimum is $40,000.

For ed techs, the average pay ranges from $21,480 to $28,174, depending on their level of certification. To help address the widespread shortage, state lawmakers this year raised wages for ed techs to 125% of the minimum wage and 115% for support staff. That moves the minimum wage for ed techs up to $17.69 an hour.

In Brunswick, the school district raised the salary for ed techs to try to attract more applicants. But Superintendent Phil Pontenziano said the district still has about a half-dozen openings in its special education program, mostly for ed techs.

“It seems like there just aren’t people interested in those positions,” he said.

Special education jobs draw smaller pools of candidates and are always hard to fill, at least in part because the work is intense, Lancia said.

“The needs of our students are very complex and they require people who have certain sets of skills and certain mindsets about how to work with kids with special needs,” he said.

In Portland Public Schools, nearly 20 of the 50 open positions are in special education. Superintendent Ryan Scallon said the district is developing plans to cover vacancies – likely with people from temporary staffing agencies – until permanent hires are made.

“With some of the positions, it will be down to the wire to fill,” he said.

In Saco, where a new collective bargaining agreement is in place, the starting hourly rate for ed techs is now more than $17, a bump of $3-$4 an hour. That increase makes the district more competitive with others in the region, said Kane, the development director. While the district may start the year short on ed techs, she believes they’ll be able to fill the jobs more easily now.

“When schools can’t compete with even restaurants, there’s no incentive to come and do that job,” she said. “The pay is a huge factor because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much people love the job. They have to be able to afford to live on it.”

In Westbrook, where a new contract for teachers raised salaries, the district has been more intentional with how it advertises positions, Lancia said. That includes describing positions in more detail, highlighting the district’s strengths and dedication to diversity and inclusion, he said.

“People are seeing and understanding that,” he said. “They believe in our mission.”

STAFFING CONCERNS

Pay is one reason some are leaving Regional School Unit 21, the district that serves Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, and it has become a somewhat contentious issue in the community.

In many districts, staff turnover and the challenge of filling open positions goes largely unnoticed outside of schools. During recent RSU 21 meetings, the community and school leaders have debated whether recent staff turnover is abnormal. The talks spurred a new advisory committee for staff, intended to address these concerns.

“It’s wildly alarming how many quality staff we’re losing,” said Shannon Cavanaugh, who teachers fifth grade at the Sea Road School in Kennebunk. She says the loss of experienced teachers and staff has contributed to low morale across the district. Her husband, Greg Cavanaugh, a former elementary school teacher in Arundel, said it has been frustrating to see the impact on morale as people leave for other jobs.

“I don’t care if we’re losing dozens of people or five people, we’re losing quality people here,” he said. “It fills everyone with a lot of sadness to see the trends of what’s happening here.”

Since April, 37 district employees of resigned or retired, including 24 teachers, specialists and administrators, according to district data, creating a turnover rate that sits just below the national average. The district now has 34 openings, including 14 teaching positions.

“Unfortunately, it is a tough time to be working in education. More people are leaving the industry compared to those who are entering it,” Superintendent Terri Cooper said in an email. “Other districts across Maine are also dealing with increased staff resignations.”

During the last school year, 31 teachers resigned or retired, a turnover rate of 14.35%, according to data provided by RSU 21. That was up from the 25 resignations the previous school year. In 2021-22, there were 28 resignations. The more recent national statistics put average teacher turnover at 16%. District leaders in Kennebunk point to this to say their turnover isn’t that unusual.

At RSU 21, departing staff are given the opportunity to fill out an exit survey and meet with human resources to talk about why they are leaving and how to improve the district, Cooper said. Recent reasons for leaving include retirement, relocation and leaving the industry, she said.

“Pay is also a reason for some of the resignations,” she said. “This is not to dismiss the morale concerns people have brought up – we hear those concerns and work hard to address them in a professional manner while also balancing the needs of every other part of this district.”

EMERGENCY RULES PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY

Districts also have more flexibility in hiring the most-needed positions this year after the Maine Department of Education last spring relaxed some of its rules.

The department determined that the highest demand was in health and physical fitness, special education, computer science, music, social studies, art, English, English as a second language, math and science.

Districts are now allowed to hire people without a teaching license to cover those positions, if they have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience, are enrolled in a teacher training program or have the highest education technician certification and have submitted to a criminal background check.

At the end of the last school year, 136 of the state’s 16,697 teachers were working with emergency certifications, according to the department of education.

“Maine, like the rest of our nation, has been experiencing educator shortages both before and after the COVID pandemic. Ideally, all educators should be fully certified, but our state statutes and rules offer certain caveats that allow for flexibility,” spokesperson Marcus Mrowka said in a statement.

Teachers may have emergency or conditional certification for a variety of reasons, including moving from another state, changing grade levels or coming into the profession after working in another field. The help those teachers become fully certified, the department has partnered with the University of Maine System to cover tuition costs for teachers to complete summer coursework.

“If you want to teach in a Maine school, we will support your journey into the classroom,” Mrowka said.

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