Dive Brief:
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Schools in Massachusetts hired over 10,000 new staff between 2019-20 and 2023-24 — a 7% jump, according to a recent analysis by Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab, a research center focusing on education finance policy. But alongside that hiring push, student enrollment dropped 4%.
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Teachers made up 28% of new hires, while the remainder consisted of 34% aides, 26% other licensed professionals and 12% administrators, the analysis found. Other licensed hires, which saw the largest proportional growth, includes counselors, reading coaches, social workers and psychologists.
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While attendance rates are improving in Massachusetts following the boost in social-emotional learning and mental health staffing, Edunomics Lab found that the state is still lagging in academic recovery, particularly among low-income students.
Dive Insight:
With Massachusetts schools showing some of the nation’s highest education staffing gains, it’s crucial that education leaders demonstrate how that hiring growth will improve student outcomes, said Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab, during an Aug. 8 webinar.
An influx of state dollars and federal relief funds during the COVID-19 pandemic covered the costs of the state’s hiring surge, according to Edunomics Lab.
Massachusetts’ academic recovery has been slower than other states, Roza said. That’s especially true for low-income students in the state, whose reading and math scores declined further between 2022 and 2023 — while most other states saw gains in this group.
“We need to make sure these big investments of new staffing are delivering value, especially for our neediest students,” Roza said.
It’s still possible, however, that the state’s staffing investments in social-emotional learning, mental health and counseling are paying off by boosting student attendance, she said. Data shows that between 2022 and 2023, attendance rates improved.
With that in mind, district leaders should look to see if lowered chronic absenteeism rates translate to math and reading improvements, Roza said.
The staffing analysis in Massachusetts comes as districts nationwide face a fiscal cliff with the fast-approaching Sept. 30 deadline to obligate federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. The influx of federal pandemic aid drove higher rates of staffing in public schools even as student enrollment declined in some communities. Consequently, district leaders are increasingly having to weigh layoffs of teachers as they navigate budget cuts.
Meanwhile, school district leaders are also facing pressure to demonstrate how their use of ESSER funds helped students bounce back from pandemic-related learning loss.
Massachusetts’ hiring surge points to signs that the state’s school staffing shortage is coming to an end now that only 3% of district positions are open, Roza said. However, those investments will likely be difficult to sustain financially, she said, so district leaders should rely on data when determining which staff are delivering the highest value for students.
Another benefit to Massachusetts’ hiring effort is that school districts can be more selective about what positions they fill moving forward, Roza said. This allows districts to better target their hiring and retention efforts.
Roza also said she’s worried that teachers from low-income schools are leaving to take jobs in wealthier schools, which could leave more vacant positions in high-poverty schools. “Districts need to be thinking about these kinds of things and saying, ‘If we want people to fill these positions in our neediest schools first, we might need to offer them something more.’”
