With less than a week before students return to classrooms, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has 516 teacher vacancies — almost 6% of the teacher workforce — the school board learned Tuesday.
The numbers came as part of a back-to-school report before Monday's first day for students. CMS expects to have almost 141,500 students and more than 20,300 employees, including 8,742 teachers.
At the same meeting, the school board unanimously approved new bonuses for teachers and assistants who work with students with disabilities. The district said the vacancies include about 102 jobs for exceptional children's teachers. New hires in that field will now be eligible for a $5,000 bonus, up from $2,500. And all exceptional children's teachers will be eligible for a $2,000 bonus at the end of the school year.
The board also approved a new $1,000 recruitment bonus and $1,000 retention bonus for special education assistants. About 188 of those jobs remain unfilled.
Money for the new bonuses comes from a mix of federal COVID-19 aid and district funding.
Why so high?
Pre-school year vacancies have been rising. Last year, in an update that came almost three weeks before opening day, CMS reported 377 teacher vacancies — a 4% vacancy rate.
And that was up from 123 teacher vacancies going into the 2021 school year.
Stephanie Sneed, vice chair of the school board, asked Superintendent Crystal Hill about the year-to-year change in vacancies. Hill, who didn't work for CMS a year ago, said she isn't sure the numbers are comparable. This year's total includes about 200 jobs that are in the process of being filled, she said.
Board member Jennifer De La Jara said part of the problem is that the number of teachers entering the profession is slumping.
"We're just not attracting teachers into the teaching field in North Carolina, much less those that have the EC (exceptional children) certification," she said. "In my mind, that's nothing short of a crisis."
Other job vacancies
CMS created a new full-time position for guest teachers, or substitutes who are assigned to specific schools, to help deal with rising vacancies over the last couple of years. Tuesday's report said 87 of those jobs remain unfilled.
And there are still 35 bus driver jobs vacant, out of a fleet of 840 buses. Last week district officials said that combines with about 50 drivers who are on leave, for a total of about 10% of the driver jobs open, even after CMS streamlined its routes this year.
