Fall classes begin next month. Have Minnesota schools staffed up?

CATHY WURZER: So we've reached the final weeks before K through 12 students return to school after the summer break, and some schools are still working on filling open positions for teachers and other staff. As of this morning, St. Paul Public Schools, for example, had 637 openings listed on its website. That includes teaching jobs, custodians, and more.

Minneapolis Public Schools had 788 open jobs. Around this time last year, there were reports of staffing shortages in districts around Minnesota and the nation, but what's behind the long list of vacancies is different depending on where you are and some districts are more affected than others.

On the line to talk about how hiring is going this year is Scott Croonquist. He leads the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. Hey, Scott, good to hear your voice. How are you?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: I'm well. How are you, Cathy?

CATHY WURZER: Good. It's been a while since you and I have talked. Say, I'm curious here. What districts are still trying to find folks for the upcoming school year?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Yeah, well, actually, this year, we're seeing, it's very widespread, not just in the metro, but really across the state. It's not unusual certainly when we get to August that districts are still trying to fill those final vacancies, but what does seem to be different this year is the number of districts that are feeling the impact, and then also the extent of the impact seems to be far more vacancies at this stage than we've seen in recent years.

CATHY WURZER: It's not a new issue, you said that, but I'm wondering, what is going on here? Are we looking at just the effects of the pandemic? Retirements? I don't know. What do you think's going on?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Yeah, I think there seems to be a few factors at play. Part of it is certainly just demographics, and we've seen that coming for quite some time. Our demographers have been warning us that we have an aging workforce, and as the Baby Boom generation is moving towards retirement, we knew we were going to be seeing some of these challenges.

But as you mentioned, the pandemic has also come into play, and I think it's accelerated the impact of the demographics in that many staff, teachers have maybe retired sooner than they might otherwise have just because of the stress and difficulties that was experienced during the pandemic. And so I think that has really accelerated the demographic impact.

CATHY WURZER: And so there are people-- there just aren't the people coming behind as these other individuals leave the profession.

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Yeah, good point. And that's been another challenge, is that we're not seeing as many new folks going into teaching. And so that's one of the new initiatives that at the state level that they have funded a marketing campaign, actually, that's called Elevate Teaching to try to help young people understand about the benefits of going into the teaching profession and trying to elevate that profession to try to make it more attractive.

CATHY WURZER: I know that we're talking about a wide range here when it comes to districts experiencing these shortages, but other districts, I understand, like Wayzata are really not dealing with much of a shortage. So really, does depend on where you are?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Yeah, it does, but it is much broader than we've seen. We had a group of our superintendents in a meeting a few weeks ago, and we did just a flash poll, and the vast majority of them did indicate that they were still experiencing shortages and also indicated that it was a higher number of vacancies than they have seen in recent years. And so the anxiety level is definitely higher this year than it has been in recent years.

CATHY WURZER: So if these positions go unfilled, Scott, how does that affect the classroom?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Yeah, well, yeah, clearly it can have some pretty significant impact. You can see higher class sizes, number one. You rely then more even on substitute teachers and having a pool of substitute teachers, but we're, again, struggling to fill those ranks as well, having an adequate supply of substitute teachers available. So it definitely puts more pressure on the system.

CATHY WURZER: Say, I have to ask you some other questions here, too, while I have on the line. This week, as you know, some voters went to the polls for special elections, including some tax questions to fund new school buildings or renovations. I see the Annandale voters turned down a request to build a new high school, the Glenville Emmons School District had a referendum that was defeated.

With all the money that the legislature passed this session for K-12 education-- I mean, it was a lot of money, why are districts going back to voters in these referendum-- these ballot questions?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Sure. So there's a couple of different referendums. And so the ones you mentioned, I think, had primarily to do with buildings. And so that is really just how we fund facilities in Minnesota. The legislature does not provide funding for school districts to build new buildings or to do addition and expansions.

And so the way we fund those in Minnesota is through bond referendums. But then also, we do anticipate to see a fairly significant number of operating referendums this fall, and that is a result, really, the insignificant-- or the lack of funding, I should say, for the general education formula amount.

As you noted, the legislature did provide historic levels of funding, but a lot of that funding is directed towards specific programs that districts must spend the funding on. And so when it comes to your basic operations, districts are heavily reliant on the state providing that funding stream.

And so while the legislature provided a 4% increase for this coming school year, it's only a 2% increase provided for the following school year. And so we do anticipate that districts are going to need to go to voters this fall to ask them to support additional funding for their schools.

CATHY WURZER: Hmm. I wonder, do you think voters understand that?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: That's a great point, and it's a challenge, because our funding system is complicated. And so certainly right now, they're hearing the news about the historic funding levels provided, and we have our work cut out to make sure voters do understand that, yes, while that overall level of funding was very significant, parts of it were dedicated to specific uses that school districts must spend that funding on, and it's not necessarily available for general operations in the district.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for the explanation. Say, before you go, and I know you've been watching this, too, and I'm curious to see what your superintendents are saying.

Probably saw that the Minneapolis Public Schools was looking at reviewing its cell phone policy for high school students. I think it was-- is it Robbinsdale Cooper that-- excuse me, Armstrong High School is looking at a revamping of their cell phone policy. What are your superintendents saying when it comes to cell phones in classrooms?

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Yeah, not an easy topic, as you might imagine, in differing points of view, quite frankly, on that. But I think our districts are doing exactly what Minneapolis did, and that is saying, we really want to get more input from students and families and parents before making those decisions.

It's a tough issue because if you have a restrictive policy, then, of course, you have enforcement issues. And who's going to enforce it and you know how do you handle all of that? So it gets very complicated very quickly, it's not just a real easy decision as it might appear at face value.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Scott, I appreciate i, i wish you the best as the school year starts here not too far from now. Thank you.

SCOTT CROONQUIST: Thank you, Cathy. Appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Scott Croonquist is the Executive Director of the Association of Metro School Districts.