By Patrick Kelly
The 2025-26 Educator Supply and Demand Report by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement represents an exciting step toward providing every South Carolina student with access to the highest quality education.
Its release comes only a few weeks after the South Carolina Department of Education reported record improvements on school report cards.
The double dose of good news in K-12 education is far from coincidence. Instead, it affirms South Carolina students excel when they are provided with the resources they need, and no resource is more important than staffing every classroom with a highly qualified educator.
For the first time this decade, the number of vacant educator positions to start the school year has declined for two consecutive years, with the 706 reported vacancies this year representing a 56% decline from the record high vacancies reported in 2023.
This year’s number of vacancies is also more than 300 fewer than last year, a figure especially notable as the data this year includes participation from three additional school districts not included in last year’s report.
The lower vacancy number is also not a result of a reduction in overall teaching positions, with the report showing the second-highest number of total employed positions this decade.
The reduction in vacancies demonstrates how sustained policy efforts can make a meaningful positive impact on teacher supply.
The downward trend is almost certainly correlated with the continued upward trend in educator salaries, with this year’s starting statewide minimum teacher salary of $48,500 representing a 35% increase compared to 2020.
Numerous districts across the state have built on the record investments made by the General Assembly, led by Charleston County increasing starting pay to nearly $65,000.
In recent years, the General Assembly has also passed several significant policies to improve educator working conditions, starting with providing daily unencumbered time and paid parental leave to educators earlier this decade and culminating in the governor signing the Educator Assistance Act into law in May 2025.
If implemented successfully by districts, these policies will continue to enhance efforts to recruit and retain educators.
However, even the good news in the Supply and Demand Report does not offset the fact that educator vacancy rates still remain too high in South Carolina.
While this year’s reduced number is encouraging, that trend provides limited solace or benefit to the tens of thousands of students experiencing diminished opportunities due to hundreds of classrooms lacking a certified teacher.
The impact of stubbornly persistent educator shortages is especially acute for students entitled to additional academic support through an individualized education plan (IEP), as more than 25% of the vacant classroom teaching positions statewide are in special education.
Additionally, the vacancy rate remains far too high in essential education service provider positions such as psychologists and speech language pathologists.
Shortages in these areas exist nationally, meaning South Carolina is in a race to secure teaching talent.
As a result, the optimism provided by this year’s Supply and Demand report should be matched or exceeded by a sense of urgency to make South Carolina the most attractive place for educators to work in the Southeast.
Such an effort requires comprehensive efforts by state and local leaders.
At the state level, the General Assembly must achieve Gov. McMaster’s long-standing goal of ensuring every teacher in the state is paid no less than $50,000.
The General Assembly should also start the work of creating “career ladder” compensation pathways, a policy recommended by the 2023 Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force based on promising results for similar programs in states like Texas and North Carolina.
Improved working conditions for educators may be even more important than compensation in order to fully eliminate educator shortages.
Efforts in this area must start with addressing the rise in persistently disruptive and dangerous student behaviors that undermine learning and too often result in physical harm to both educators and students.
Regardless of the salary offered, an educator that is consistently being struck at work is unlikely to persist in the profession, yet nearly one quarter of the members of Palmetto State Teachers Association report that a student referred to administrators for a violent behavior is returned to the classroom on the same day.
Local districts also have important roles to play in improving educator working conditions, starting with ensuring that statewide policies like the Educator Assistance Act, unencumbered time requirements, and class size caps are implemented with fidelity.
School leaders should also carefully evaluate what is necessary and essential work for teachers in order to eliminate tasks beyond the scope of an individual’s employment contract, activities that thousands of educators across the state are routinely required to complete without any compensation for their work.
Patrick Kelly is the director of governmental affairs for the Palmetto State Teachers Association. He has taught in Richland School District 2 since 2005, and he served on the 2023 South Carolina Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force.
