The Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools each released findings Monday which showed, for the first time in several years, that the state is seeing some improvements in the number of educator hires.

This year’s survey found more than 90% of schools responding reported having a “serious” or “very serious” teacher shortage problem.

Illinois is facing a teacher shortage — and a new survey shows school leaders fear it is getting worse.  The survey was conducted last fall, before the highly contagious omicron COVID-19 variant, which poses added challenges to schools as some struggle to keep buildings staffed enough to host in-person classes.

Thousands of teachers miss class time within Illinois each week, and thanks to a shortage of substitute teachers, an average of 600 K-12 classrooms are left without an educator each school day, according to a new statewide study.