Schools see even bigger dropoff in support staff
Experts say poor wages, schedules keeping workers away from jobs
In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker is activating the National Guard to help with the shortage in bus drivers. In North Carolina, legislators are hoping to ease a cafeteria worker shortage by giving districts federal funding to cover signing bonuses for new hires. And some Missouri districts are wiping away some of the requirements to become a substitute teacher to attract more applicants.
Across the country, school districts are desperate to fill jobs. Some are struggling to retain counselors, teachers and principals, but a more urgent need seems to be for employees who have traditionally operated behind the scenes — cafeteria workers, bus drivers and substitute teachers — according to Chip Slaven, interim director for the National School Boards Association.
Many relatively low-paying industries, like restaurants, are facing worker shortages because of the pandemic. But school districts have for years struggled to recruit and retain workers, according to Slaven, because of the low pay, sparse benefits and erratic schedules.
“You really have to look back before the pandemic,” he said. “You’re seeing a problem that was already bad become worse.”
In Santa Fe, Randy Mondragon has worked as a bus driver for 20 years, and his pay is slightly higher than the average, which is about $16.40 an hour, according to the district.
He works six days a week, usually topping out at 70 hours.
“There’s been only one day in the 22 years I’ve worked that they didn’t need me to drive a route,” Mondragon said. “We are the first and last ones that students see in the morning, so our job is very important, and, sometimes, we don’t get that acknowledgment.”
The shortages have affected families, already under stress. Since the first day of classes, Melissa Minter has driven her three children every morning to middle school and high school in the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. A severe staffing shortage has forced bus drivers to make multiple trips, turning what should be a 15-minute bus ride into an hour-and-a-half odyssey.
“My children are begging me to start picking them up in the afternoon, too,” Minter said. “My husband and I have talked about it, but we don’t know if there’s enough in our budget for more gas. It’s stressful.”
The coronavirus has scared away workers who are wary of face-to-face interaction with children, and the federal government’s pandemic unemployment benefits, which recently ended, spurred some to wait for better opportunities.
There are hundreds of unfilled positions in the Northside district, according to superintendent Brian Woods — more than he has ever seen in his career.
Woods said the district is using funds from recent federal stimulus bills to hire more teachers, drivers, nutritionists, counselors and administrators.
“It’s ironic because for forever, schools have been underfunded and felt like they couldn’t do what they needed,” he said. “But now you have this federal funding. We have plenty of money. But the human capital is not there.”
And it isn’t just bus drivers. Cafeteria workers and substitute teachers struggle with inconvenient scheduling, lack of benefits and subpar pay.
Pearl West is a child nutrition manager for Gregorio Esparza Elementary School in the Northside district in San Antonio. The school needs an additional three workers just to get by, but she is struggling to find people to apply.
“It’s hard to appeal to them when the fast-food chain is offering $1 more per hour,” West said. “The pay is competitive with other school districts in the area, but as a whole, it’s not competitive with the cost of living.”
West works full time with four other employees to make close to 400 meals a day, but she still relies on welfare to make ends meet. She makes less than $25,000 a year.
Despite the low pay, West said she feels committed to her job because she wants to make sure her students get fed.
“We are really running on the smiles of our students that come in to see us every day,” West said. “That’s why we show up at 4:45 in the morning — we all know those kids by name. But when the cafeteria doors close, we sigh and our shoulders drop. It’s exhausting.”
Labor economists have been talking about this worker shortage issue for years, said Erica Groshen, an economist at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
“School districts have been able to underpay employees for a long time, and they’re discovering that they can’t do it anymore because of a serious decline in labor force participation now,” she said.
According to Groshen, increased unemployment benefits during the pandemic have given workers the leeway to pass up jobs with abysmal working conditions while they look for better employment opportunities.
“Because people have gotten relief payments, they don’t have to take the very first job that comes along,” she said. “They get to be selective and hope that something better comes.”
Some employers hope that the end of federal unemployment benefits will push more people to apply for these positions. Groshen does not think most schools will see a big upswing in applicants.
“Some states ended unemployment benefits early, so there is already some research,” Groshen said. “And when you look at the studies, there was some effect in the market from unemployment ending, but it wasn’t very large.”
Chris Horstman, who trains school bus drivers in Ithaca, N.Y., and drives a bus himself, says the Ithaca city school district needs 11 more bus drivers to be able to “limp through” the rest of the school year. Ideally, they would be able to find another 25 workers.
“Employers should have been prepared,” he said. “We’ve been screaming this to them since before the pandemic — that the pay has been low. Districts across the country have not stepped up to the plate.”