South Cook News

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has announced a plan to pump more than $70 million into his Teacher Pipeline Grant Program in the hope of dealing with the growing number of teacher vacancies in the state.

The plan was revealed to the public on March 17.

Pritzker himself introduced the Teacher Pipeline Grant Program but now needs more money to manage it. Illinois public schools at present have more than 5,300 unfilled teaching positions, but nearly half of those vacancies are for paraprofessionals, not traditional teachers; a recent Illinois Policy report said. The need may actually be more about the type of teacher and where they are located.

"All across the nation, school districts are fighting the impact of teacher shortages — as education professionals struggle to weigh their passion for their classrooms with their own mental, financial and personal wellbeing,” Pritzker said during a visit to Streamwood High School in Elgin, where he publicly revealed his $70 million plan for the Teacher Pipeline Grant Program. "So as part of my education investment plan, I’m proposing an additional $70 million annually specifically targeted at addressing teacher shortages.”

Illinois public schools have lost nearly 180,000 students over the course of a ten-year period beginning in 2011, the report said. In terms of percentages, Illinois students declined in number by 8.7% over the past ten years, while the number of teachers increased by 3.5% during that same time span. This has made it harder for some teachers to make a living. 

Illinois has the second-highest property taxes in the United States, and 61.5% of those taxes go toward public schools in the state, the report said. Unless state lawmakers amend the Illinois Constitution, residents will have no shortage of pension debt to keep driving up their property taxes and ever less to spend on the state's public school system. One quarter of the state's general fund already goes to pay for pensions.