S.C. teacher vacancies have dropped for the first time in years
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - For the past several years, the number of vacant teaching jobs across South Carolina has been trending in one direction: up — and in unprecedented fashion every year.
But for the first time this decade, the number of educator openings statewide has dropped, according to a report released this week.
This year’s “Annual Educator Supply and Demand Report,” released by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement, or CERRA, shows there were 1,043 unfilled educator jobs at the start of this school year across 71 of South Carolina’s 75 school districts.
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“There’s still 1,000 classrooms that didn’t have a teacher, so there’s still that aspect of it,” Sherry East with the South Carolina Education Association said. “All in all, it’s exciting to think that we might be moving in the right direction.”
That figure is a 35% drop from last year’s number, 1,613 vacancies, and a turnaround from the last several years of increases in unfilled jobs, though it is still higher than pre-pandemic numbers.
“We in South Carolina have to get people wanting to go into education as a profession, as a career, and we have to do everything we can do once we get them there, to keep them — better working conditions, making sure all our teachers and all our students are safe in schools,” Kathy Maness with the Palmetto State Teachers Association said.
Both educator advocacy groups said a major contributor
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to the reported decreases in teacher vacancies this year is action at the State House.
“They’ve been working to help with increased teacher pay, extending the state salary schedule, the steps on the state salary schedule, the lottery enhancement, which helps our young people who are in our colleges and universities majoring in education,” Maness said.
The South Carolina Education Association said while it welcomes the report’s findings, it does wonder how much is due to factors like someone from another state teaching South Carolina students virtually, which would count as a filled position.
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“And then I had to wonder, are districts, did they do — they made it work. Maybe now instead of having four third-grade teachers, you only have three third-grade teachers because they knew you can’t find a teacher, so they just collapsed classes,” East said.
In a statement, South Carolina Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver said this report “provides encouraging signs that we are making progress towards stabilizing the teacher workforce in the Palmetto State.”
Weaver said next year, she plans to ask lawmakers for another increase to the statewide starting salary, working toward a goal of a $50,000 minimum by 2026, as well as for money to expand a strategic compensation pilot program for educators.
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The report does not detail which districts or geographic regions had the most vacancies at the start of the school year.
The Palmetto State Teachers Association said that would be helpful information for lawmakers to have so they could target resources to the areas that need them most.
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