CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) – While many school districts struggle with hiring enough certified teachers to lead classrooms weeks before the 2022-23 school year begins, Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Mark Laughner says the school corporation only has a few openings to fill before classes start Wednesday.

"We have 650 teachers in the district," he said in an interview with WDRB News. "I think we have right at five openings as we lead into the school year, so we're in pretty good shape. Also in transportation, our staffing is in good shape."

GCCS, which serves about 10,000 students, is bucking a national trend, according to statistics compiled by the National Education Association.

The national education group found that 567,000 fewer teachers were in classrooms in early 2022 compared to pre-pandemic staffing numbers, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

NEA also cited BLS numbers indicating that school districts had a harder time hiring in general, with schools making 0.59 hires for every opening in early 2022 compared to 1.54 hires per opening in 2010 and 1.06 in 2016. The declining hiring trend has many teachers covering for their colleagues and taking on heavier workloads, according to a survey of about 3,600 teachers commissioned by NEA.

Mark Felix, president of the Greater Clark Education Association, says he's pleasantly surprised that GCCS has nearly every teaching position filled days before schools open for the 2022-23 school year.

"Right now I think we lack two high school science teachers for Jeffersonville High School and then two elementary teachers," Felix said in an interview Thursday outside Charlestown Middle School. "… I'm sure by the time we start on Wednesday, they'll probably have those other jobs filled. We may literally be at 100%."

Felix says this year's staffing situation is a welcome change compared to past school years since he became president of the Greater Clark Education Association five years ago.

In the past, GCCS had been "scrambling at the last minute to fill some jobs and having to put subs in there day after day," he said.

"We're happy because when we've got those openings, it puts the responsibility and the extra effort falls on other teachers to cover until they fill that spot," Felix said.

Laughner said transportation staffing at GCCS "is in good shape" as well. While Felix does not represent transportation employees, he says he's heard that the school corporation is "at or close to 100% on every route."

Felix isn't sure exactly how GCCS has avoided the staffing headaches that other school districts face weeks before schools open for the 2022-23 school year.

"Maybe the word's out this is a great place to work," he said. "I don't know."

Felix noted that the school corporation has raised salaries and opened new buildings. This year, GCCS agreed to raise teacher salaries by $2,500 plus a $1,000 bonus from leftover COVID-19 stimulus money, he said.

That raised the minimum salaries for teachers to $44,000 and the top pay for instructors to $79,800.

"We're starting to catch up with a lot of people. We were lagging behind for a while," Felix said. "… The superintendent's been pretty good here as far as increasing wages every chance we get."

GCCS will be among the first Indiana school corporations to open for the 2022-23 school year when classes begin Wednesday.

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