The Mars Area School District school board recently raised the pay of custodial workers by $2 an hour to help fill openings that have been vacant for years; which could help the district get a leg up with the limited pool of applicants sought by several school districts in Butler County.

School support positions range from part- to full-time jobs in areas including custodial staff to cafeteria workers and typically see the highest turnover of any departments in a school district, according to several superintendents in the county. Other positions in schools can also be difficult to fill, but generally see less turnover.

In Mars Area School District, the problem is finding custodians; in Karns City Area School District, the problem is mainly cafeteria workers; in Slippery Rock Area School District its mainly nursing staff; and Butler Area School District is always looking for substitute workers in several fields to ensure a full staff.

While some school districts in Butler County have more money available in their budget for staff than others, there are only so many people in the area who are looking for a part-time job in a paraprofessional role.

“We are not aggressive in our salaries because we don't have the resources to be aggressive,” said Brian White, superintendent of Butler Area School District. “This is one of those key examples where we don't have the resources to pay the people. We try to have people on board as long-term subs so when we have vacancies we can minimize effect on students.”

Across the country, staff and benefits consistently are the largest portion of a school district's budget, with upward of 100 positions even in a district like Karns City. White said there are about 750 employees of Butler Area School District.

Personnel costs and benefits account for more than $70 million of Butler Area School District’s $110.43 million 2023-24 budget, and more than $15 million in Karns City Area School District’s $25.8 million budget.

Eric Ritzert, superintendent of Karns City school district, said the district’s professional full-time positions are full, but part-time jobs are almost always open. Cafeteria roles and paraprofessional jobs are part time, so Ritzert isn’t surprised they have the highest turnover. But during the past five years or so, even the number of applicants for school jobs has fallen.

“There aren't a lot of applicants for paraprofessionals, for really most positions anymore,” Ritzert said. “It used to be if we had a teaching position, it was not uncommon to have anywhere from two-dozen to four-dozen applicants. Now you may have, depending on the specificity of a position, maybe a dozen at most.”

Paraprofessional positions are typically part-time jobs aiding teachers with certain aspects of their job, Ritzert explained. Those jobs also are more prone to change because some depend on the needs of a certain student or group of students.

“In the summer, we do assess our staffing needs, particularly with paraprofessionals,” Ritzert said. “As the students change grade levels or programs, that level of staffing may need to flow to that.”

Without a sufficient number of paraprofessionals, the responsibility often falls onto a teacher, according to White.

“We're asking the same people to do a lot more,” White said. “We have more people doing overtime and doing more supplemental work.”

Alfonso Angelucci, superintendent of Slippery Rock Area School District, said nursing positions are sometimes difficult for the district to fill. Although there may be fewer applicants for support jobs than there used to be, Angelucci said the methods for disseminating job opening information to the public has grown.

“We use a few social networking sites associated with the school district to help spread the word about openings,” Angelucci said. “This has worked well for us as the sites generate a great deal of traffic.

“We also utilize our school district website and various affiliated entities, such as the University of Pittsburgh Tri-State (Area School) Study Council, to help us communicate our openings.”

School districts in Butler County also benefit from having Slippery Rock University nearby. White said Butler Area School District has “a significant number of student teachers” working right now, and some go on to teach full time in the school district once they graduate.

“We are very fortunate we have a decent number of SRU graduates and teachers,” White said.

New SRU graduates or those from other nearby colleges may have a lot of choices in the summer before their first teaching job, because the summer break is still when school districts do a majority of their staff rearranging.

“We all do compete for the same types of teachers,” Ritzert said. “If we are looking for a math teacher and another district is as well, we're all looking for that certification so it might not go our way all the time.”

David Foley started as superintendent of Knoch School District six years ago, and said Thursday, Feb. 1, that his administrative team has remained largely the same during his tenure.

“There's about 15 people on the core (administrative) group; probably at least 10 have been here as long as me or longer,” Foley said. “With administrative positions, we haven't struggled in any way.”

Ritzert also said people in teaching and administrative jobs typically spend years in their positions. Ritzert and White both said some of the longest-tenured employees in their districts are those who attended school there as a child.

“Most of our staff, if they start their career here they usually finish it here,” Ritzert said. “There is a significant amount of people who do return if they have the chance.”

Kristen Clouse, human resources director at Butler Area School District, said despite turnover challenges in support staff roles, some personnel have been with the district for upward of 20 years.

Foley said the Knoch school board has also made an effort to work with teachers unions.

“The school board has given great attention to teacher negotiations,” Foley said. “We've knocked down labor challenges we've had in the past.”

While applicants for open jobs in schools have been falling recently, the number of positions available in school districts has remained relatively stable.

Angelucci said about 200 positions exist at Slippery Rock Area School District — a number that fluctuates depending on the needs of the district.

“The budget changes along with the staffing needs of the school district. Our overall numbers of staff have changed slightly,” Angelucci said. “Our students are our first priority, and their needs — as well as enrollment numbers — dictate our staffing.”

White said a change in educational funding would likely be the best way of mitigating school staff shortages across the state. The increase to the personnel budget hasn’t much helped the district keep up with staffing needs, he added.

“We've consistently given raises; in 2017 they were not as generous as what they are now,” White said. “Most of our raises don't keep up with the market now.”

The funding issue is most evident with support staff positions, White said. While teachers at least tend to stay in their positions for some time, he couldn’t say the same for some support roles.

“We need more people to join the profession of teaching,” White said. “The realities of our support staff, that probably won't change until our funding changes.”