Ford Motor Company became a giant in the automotive industry by perfecting the assembly line. Facebook and Google are incredibly successful due to proprietary algorithms. The secret of our success: highly trained employees that are motivated to provide effective learning environments that result in success for all students. It may come as a surprise, but education is a very labor intensive enterprise with over 80% of our operating budget dedicated to personnel. The work is rewarding for sure. It is also demanding, confrontational, stressful, and heartbreaking; oftentimes simultaneously. Our ability to be successful as a school district is dependent on attracting and retaining quality employees. Employees who can handle the ever increasing rigors of the job. If I can get them in the door with a competitive compensation package, I've only won half the battle. The other part is to ensure they have the resources needed to execute on their primary job function. That includes but is not limited to supportive colleagues and supervisors, professional development that nurtures and helps them grow, and enough autonomy to treat them as the professionals they are. Those are my secrets of the trade, for undoubtedly the key to a high performing school system is one that attracts and retains quality talent. Unfortunately though, it is becoming ever more challenging, and for factors largely out of my control.
I have spent a decent amount of time over the years discussing the looming teacher shortage. For the most part, up until recently, it hasn't impacted us at Hudson as much as it has in other parts of the state. After all, we live in the teacher capital of Iowa! Sure, we have had trouble filling some positions, but everyone has a tough time finding a family and consumer science teacher! Even so, the warning lights are beginning to blink red. A little more than a year ago we advertised for a third grade teaching position and had close to 100 applicants. I used to joke that I could whisper the words 'kindergarten teacher possibly needed' and have applications stacked like cordwood outside my office door. Ah, the good old days!
This year though, there were more than 100 cases where a school district sought a waiver to begin the year with a substitute teacher to fill an open permanent teaching position. Many of these were/are not in what had traditionally been 'hard to fill' areas. These were for regular classroom teaching positions, many of which were lower elementary! Unfortunately the problem isn't just confined to teaching positions either. We are seeing labor shortages in all classifications of employment. Bus drivers, custodians, paraprofessionals, cooks; you name it, schools are having a tough time finding people.
So what about here in Hudson? I'm sure one would think that a school district on the doorstep of the University of Northern Iowa would have a deep pool. Well, I'll admit that we are probably in a bit better shape than some, but the landscape has certainly changed in the last twelve months. A third grade opening right now has yielded less than 20 applicants. As with any candidate pool in any school district for any position, not all 20 are viable.
As mentioned above, the challenge isn't just limited to our teaching pool. At Hudson, we are currently 4 paraprofessionals short of being fully staffed. Two of those positions have been open since the beginning of the school year. And it always seems like we are looking for someone in food service!
The demand is simply not keeping up with the supply. Fewer young people are going into education, and many that are currently in education are looking for the exit. In fact, statewide we have seen a greater number of educators abandon their contracts mid-year. When I first began my service on the Board of Educational Examiners, contract abandonment cases were typically heard by the board in the summer when someone was leaving for a different teaching job. We are now hearing cases throughout the school year where teachers are leaving education in its entirety!
This would be a great time to segue into reasons why this is happening. A topic for another day for sure, but many of those reasons are outside of our direct control as local education agencies. Unfortunately a lot of it is political polarization of education. I will and do continue to advocate for policies that benefit our system of public education and will interact with legislators so long as it is having an impact. But, the legislature is going to do what the legislature is going to do.
What I can do is work hard to make the Hudson Community School District an employment destination of choice. Not only in the Cedar Valley, but hopefully in the state. I believe this starts with an attractive compensation package. While we provide great benefits including health insurance and a pension plan, those benefits do not make up for money in your pocket. A great dental plan is cold comfort to someone who can't pay rent. This is why I am so excited that our school board took bold and decisive action at their Wednesday meeting and approved substantial wage increases for our current classified staff members. Not only are we boosting wages across the board, we are making significant progress in our starting hourly pay, particularly in our paraprofessional classifications which has been our most significant need this year. If you are interested in learning more about opportunities that we have available at Hudson Schools, please check out our openings here.
Perhaps next time we'll discuss some of those underlying reasons. Until then, have a great spring break!
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