Akron and Cleveland, two of the biggest school districts in Northeast Ohio, are moving into the school year with more than 100 teacher vacancies each.
Pat Shipe, president of the Akron Education Association, Akron's teacher union, said the vacancies are "very concerning."
"I've never seen it as high as it has been this year," she said.
Shipe said the vacancies are due to a number of factors. For one, the district laid off 52 teachers in May 2024 in an attempt to cut its budget.
"Those people didn't stand around waiting until now, a year later. They went to other districts," she said.
The district is currently trying to fill 162 vacant positions, it said in a press release this week, about 8% of its "teaching and classroom support roles," which includes 94 teachers.
Shipe said fewer young people are going into education as a career, and some teachers are leaving the profession altogether, amid what she called an "attack on education" by state and national politicians.
"So we're seeing an exodus there, I believe, statewide and nationwide, quite frankly, where we're sending a clear... political message that public education really is not valued in this country and therefore I think that's affecting it," she said.
Dysfunction at the district over the last several years is also scaring some educators away from a career in Akron, according to Shipe, instead going to school districts in neighboring suburbs, even when the pay is lower. The district has had three superintendents since 2021, with the previous superintendent, Michael Robinson, accused of bullying behavior by staff and union busting by the teachers union.
The district said it's not alone in experiencing issues recruiting teachers, with as many as one in eight positions nationally going unfilled or staffed with "uncertified individuals," it said in the press release, citing a study from The Learning Policy Institute. The district said it's holding a job fair on August 20, and is offering scholarships to teacher aides to become certified teachers, on top of partnerships with community colleges to recruit more teachers.
“The preparation for this school year has been robust and strategic,” said Superintendent Mary Outley. "We are committed to finding innovative approaches to address these staffing gaps. Our focus is not just on filling positions for today, but on building a sustainable and resilient educator workforce for the future."
Cleveland's unique problem, and the impact of vacancies
Cleveland Teachers Union President Shari Obrenski said the district is about 160 teachers short, although that number doesn't include paraprofessionals, also known as teacher aides.
But Obrenski said it's not clear how many teachers the district should hire, given the district's looming plan to consolidate and close schools.
"I think it's been really important for them to try and fill critical vacancies that we have with our special ed and other areas where we have vulnerable children that need services," she said. "At the same time, I've been encouraging them not to over-hire so that we aren't in a position where we're looking at having to deal with a reduction in force due to closure and consolidation."
The district has not yet responded to a request for comment sent Wednesday afternoon. Officials have previously said a decision on consolidation will be coming sometime this school year, with no action until fall 2026 at least.
Still, it's not that unusual to start the school year with about 100 to 150 teacher vacancies, Obrenski said. Typically, the union and district work together early in the school year to move staff to schools with the highest number of vacancies or that need core subjects like math and English covered. The vacancies do cause impacts on education, however.
"We have had some difficulty, particularly, it seems, (staffing) our middle grades positions, our six, seven, eighth (grade) positions, where that can be a struggle," Obrenski said. "And if you don't have a regular teacher full time in a classroom and you're relying on subs, that can be very difficult."
Obrenski said substitute teachers are another area where districts are experiencing large vacancies.
Shipe said the impact of teacher vacancies is multi-pronged. Sometimes it means "unqualified and unlicensed adults" are put in as teachers long-term, which impacts the quality of education students receive. Other times, it means students are merged into other classrooms, which increases class sizes and reduces the amount of individual attention teachers can give each student.
Officials at both school districts say the biggest gap is in special education, with both districts struggling to hire enough intervention specialists to serve students with disabilities.
Cleveland's first day of school is August 18. Akron's is August 21 for most schools, although some schools with unique models have already begun class.
