Teacher Shortage? East Lansing Teaching Job Gets 96 Applicants

Michigan’s new State Superintendent Brian Whiston says the state faces a potential teacher shortage because of ongoing battles over public school funding.

“Before you might have 20 people applying for a handful of jobs; now, you might have five or 10,” Whiston said.

ForTheRecord says: Michigan Capitol Confidential is looking into claims of an alleged teacher shortage, and so far finds them coming up short on evidence. On Monday, we reported the experience of five school districts that collectively had dozens of applicants for a handful of teacher jobs.

Add a sixth district. In June, East Lansing Public Schools announced it was seeking an instructor to teach English Language Arts (40 percent of the time) and Social Studies (60 percent of the time) at MacDonald Middle School. There were 96 applicants for the opening, which was filled.

That means the six posted teaching positions we have looked at so far had a combined total of 195 applicants.