ST PAUL, Minn. — With the beginning of the new school year already upon us, a lot of schools are still looking for teachers.
Earlier this year, the state's licensing board said about 84 percent of Minnesota schools were short teachers, but over in St. Paul, they made some great progress over the summer.
St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) officials say they hired more than 1,100 employees this summer, but they're still down 108 teachers and paraprofessionals on Tuesday — the first day of school. They say they're getting by with substitutes for now.
Over at the Mandarin Immersion School, it's down a science teacher, but the school's principal said a newly renovated lunchroom and study spaces are reasons to be excited.
While SPPS said it's offering bonuses to attract a few more educators this year, Minneapolis Public Schools is also offering a hiring bonus of $5,000 for education support professionals, in addition to a retention bonus for employees who decided to stay on again this school year.
But teacher shortages aren't only happening in Minneapolis and Saint Paul: A recent survey from the Minnesota School Boards Association showed the seven-county metro region is down more than 500 teachers total right now.
Officials say that number is likely even higher because not every school district participated in the survey.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: