(The Center Square) – The Cedar Rapids Community School Board on Monday approved $750 bonuses from ESSER funding for full-time school staff.

The funding addresses employee shortages, which have impacted school districts in Iowa.

“Due to the number of vacancies and the shortage of replacements in all positions in our school district, our current staff members at CRCSD have had to hire more to serve students every day,” Bush said in a statement. at TV9.

School districts have responded to continuing shortages of substitute teachers.

For example, the Urbandale Community School District announced earlier this month that it would increase the daily salary of substitute teachers from $135 to $165. After signing up for 50 days in a school year, teachers receive a loyalty bonus that will raise the rate for the rest of the year to $185.

The Iowa Department of Education list of shortages was as follows, at 4:30 p.m. on December 21:

Iowa Teacher Shortage Areas 2021-2022

Iowa’s school performance has declined in several districts during the pandemic based on Iowa’s statewide assessment of student progress, the department reported. From 2019 to 2021, the number of schools in the Exceptional category decreased by six and the number of schools in the Needs Improvement and Priority categories (the lowest categories) increased by seven and 21 schools, respectively.

The Iowa Department of Education reported last week that school district fall 2021 enrollment is up nearly 1,500 since last year. Certified enrollment, which helps determine school funding, increased in 169 school districts (52), with Waukee leading and Des Moines Public Schools seeing the largest decrease. Certified enrollment increased in school districts that included Ankeny, Pleasant Valley, Clear Creek Amana, Dallas Center-Grimes, Norwalk, Ames, Southeast Polk, Bondurant-Farrar, Iowa City and Cedar Falls. Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Mason City, Muscatine, Nevada, Creston, South Tama and Davenport saw declines.

Kindergarten, Kindergarten and Grade 9 saw the largest increases. The number of students learning English has also increased. About three-quarters of the increase in enrollment of students learning English speak Spanish at home. Participation in homeschooling supported by the local school district, which is optional for homeschooled families, increased from 8,735 in fall 2020 to 7,707 in fall 2021.

Applications and tips for opening charter schools are now available, the Iowa Department of Education announced on Tuesday. February 1, 2022 is the deadline to apply to launch a charter school in the 2022-2023 school year. As of 2023-2024, the application deadline will be November 1 of the previous school year. For example, November 1, 2022 would be the deadline for the 2023-2024 school year.