Decades of underpaying and overworking their teachers have finally caught up to the education system. The teacher shortage is more drastic than it has ever been before. Teachers throughout the country have already been claiming that they would’ve quit a long time ago if it wasn’t for their love for teaching and care for their students. These past two years, however, have driven teachers to their breaking point. With online schooling, a rise in school shootings, and demanding regulations, more teachers have resigned at once than ever before. 44% of public schools have reported teacher vacancies, and this number continues to rise. 

The burnout that teachers have experienced, especially after the pandemic, was an issue that the education system failed to address. Many claimed to be doing the work of 5 people while getting paid little to nothing. Therefore, it was understandable that so many teachers decided to abandon their job and never look back. 

The education system has been drastically affected by this. Although bigger school districts haven’t experienced much of a problem finding replacements and filling these vacant positions, other districts haven’t been as lucky. Rural school districts in areas where a majority of the students are from low-income families have been having trouble filling vacancies since the demand for jobs isn’t as high in those areas. They have even resorted to getting veterans and noncredentialed teachers to take on these educator roles. Others have reduced their weeks to 4 days. 

This is an issue that the education system will continue to face unless they start to make changes. It’s expected for more teachers to resign in the upcoming year, which will hurt the school districts more than stopping the demoralizing treatment towards their educators will.