Over the summer, and into the first few months of the school year, school districts across the state scrambled to fill not just teaching positions, but also support staff roles, such as custodians, bus drivers and paraprofessionals. 

Earlier this week, two Vermont schools — U-32 in East Montpelier and Spaulding High School in Barre — canceled classes due to staffing shortages, amid a spate of absences from Covid-19 and other illness. 

Teachers and administrators cite a range of reasons why educators have left the field: pandemic burnout, political clashes over curricula and Covid response, uncertainty about pensions and the potential for higher wages in other fields. Anecdotally, many of these departures are early retirements. 

In the years preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, about 360 to 370 Vermont teachers retired each year, according to data from the state treasurer’s office. In the 2020 fiscal year, that number spiked, to more than 460 retirements. It remained high, above 400, in 2021, the most recent year of available data. 

In this week’s podcast, two former Vermont teachers describe their decisions to take other jobs. Don Tinney, president of the Vermont-NEA, explains why staffing needs don’t always sync up with enrollment numbers. And James Nagle, chair of the education department at St. Michael’s College, describes how the pandemic impacted teacher training.