With school about to start, teachers still wanted

• Research shows that a high-quality teacher can make a large difference in student performance, and teacher turnover — for example a revolving door of substitutes — tends to negatively affect achievement.

Driving the news: The first districts in Marion County go back to school one week from today, and the state's job bank lists more than 1,700 open teaching positions statewide.

• Another 600 student support positions are open — roles like instructional assistants, school nurses and coaches.

State of play: Many central Indiana districts say recruitment is going better for them this year than the last few.

• The COVID-19 pandemic followed by the uncertainty about the safety of reopening schools for in-person instruction exacerbated an existing teacher shortage.

Zoom in: Beech Grove City Schools has just a handful of open teaching positions.

• "As compared with last school year at this time, we are in a much stronger staffing position," spokesperson Mitzi Garman said.

Yes, but: Current openings are still up from the start of school in 2019 when there were fewer than 700 postings on the state's job bank. And even then, schools were facing a "shortage."

Of note: Teachers aren't the only staffers schools are struggling to find — the state's job bank lists 60 openings for food service workers and 70 in transportation.

• Lawrence Township schools said while the district has just 30 open teaching positions out of 900, a vacancy rate of 3%, they still have about 10% of their bus driver positions open.
• Brownsburg schools has just one recently vacated teaching position to fill, but officials said they're always looking for bus drivers, custodians and nutrition services staff.