As students return to classrooms for a new school year, many are finding understaffed schools. Schools across Vance, Granville and Warren counties also are experiencing vacancies.
There simply are not enough teachers to fill openings, and Rep. Terry Garrison cited recently released statistics that underscore the challenge that schools face.
Garrison said in an email dated Aug. 31 that Vance County Schools have 26 vacancies, Warren County Schools have five vacancies and Granville County Public Schools has 56 vacancies.
Zooming out to school districts across the state, Garrison’s office cited a recent survey from the North Carolina School Superintendents Association which counted at least 11,297 teacher and staff vacancies in North Carolina, including:
- 3,619 K-12 teachers
- 1,342 bus drivers
- 850 special education teachers
- 354 counselors, social workers and psychologists
- 70 assistant principals
- 698 central office employees
- And more than 4,362 other support staff
Those numbers are low estimates, since only 98 of 115 school districts responded, according to Garrison’s press statement.
“The General Assembly needs to act quickly to ensure that students have teachers in their classrooms,” Garrison said. “There are solutions available to us. We could revisit the policy used during the pandemic of allowing retired teachers to come back, for example. Our state also has billions of dollars in reserves that could help recruit more teachers in districts that are understaffed.”
Contact Garrison by phone at 919.733.5824 or by email at terry.garrison@ncleg.gov.
