LANSING — Many teachers and other experts say that Michigan is experiencing a teacher shortage that hits many small rural communities the hardest.

Audra DeRidder, who teaches fifth-grade math and science in the Iron Mountain Public Schools, works in one. “Rural school districts are pretty isolated and had difficulty attracting new teachers to begin with,” she said.

A lack of funding makes recruiting new teachers even harder, she said.

The Iron Mountain district has many emergency certified teachers, she said, referring to those who are hired to teach a subject that they are not licensed for. “When teachers are unlicensed, they can be a good teacher, but they may lack pedagogical skills or additional information on the topic that the student needs,” she said.

DeRidder also mentors new teachers in her district and is its special education caseload manager.

“Small districts don’t have a lot of staff, and everyone wears a lot of hats,” she said.

One of the biggest concerns rural districts face is a lack of mental health services, she said.

“The closest place we can send a student is two hours away,” she said. “Families face a dilemma – do they drive that far all the time, or pay out of pocket or move to another location?”

According to a January study by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, rural districts in Michigan find it especially difficult to attract qualified applicants for specialized topics, including science and special education.

According to the report, research has shown that having science teachers with specialized training in the specific field of science they teach is positively associated with student achievement. Yet only 84.5% of Michigan science teachers are appropriately credentialed, a rate that was lower in 2022-23 than in 2021-22.

James Gell is a physics teacher at Plymouth High School in Canton Township and a regional representative of the Michigan section of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

“What I have seen is that fewer new teachers means some classrooms have long-term substitute teachers instead of full-time teachers,” he said.

“When screening candidates for open positions it is difficult to find more than three or four that are worth bringing in for an interview, and the number of strong candidates is pretty small. Twenty years ago, it was not uncommon to receive hundreds of applications for open science positions.”

Donald Wotruba, the executive director of the Michigan Association of School Boards, said both rural and urban districts face problems with staff recruiting and retention.

Wotruba said the Michigan Legislature almost eliminated state funding for mental health counseling in schools in 2024. On Sept. 25, lawmakers passed a bill restoring $125 million for mental health and school safety efforts, but this likely will not take effect until early 2025.

The earlier cut has contributed to a shortage of mental health counselors, he said.

“Some districts are even considering using telehealth,” Wotruba said, although some experts say that is a less effective way of providing mental health services than in person.

Students seem to be more difficult to manage, according to Wotruba.

“They seem to have less impulse control,” he said, resulting in more student-staff altercations.

“Without support,” Wotruba said, “who would want to work in that environment?”

Due to the shortage of people interested in becoming teachers, districts have fewer qualified applicants and may have to settle for someone with less training or experience than in the past, Wotruba said.