How MSPs Help with the Hardest-to-Fill School Positions

America’s schools are facing a persistent staffing crisis that shows no signs of slowing down. As districts nationwide struggle to find qualified educators and support staff, one solution is gaining traction: Managed Service Provider (MSP) partnerships. By leveraging specialized recruitment expertise, extensive talent networks, and strategic workforce planning, MSPs are helping schools fill their most challenging vacancies and maintain quality education for students.

The Scope of the Staffing Challenge

Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), paints a sobering picture of the current teaching workforce. For the 2024-25 school year, 74% of public schools reported difficulty filling one or more vacant teaching positions with fully certified teachers. While this represents a slight improvement from 79% the previous year, the challenge remains substantial. The data also points out that 64% of public schools cited a lack of qualified candidates as their primary staffing challenge, while 62% reported too few candidates applying for open positions. On average, schools entered the academic year with six teaching vacancies, managing to fill only 79% of them before classes began. Even more concerning, approximately 411,500 teaching positions nationwide were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments. That represents roughly one in eight among all teaching positions across the country. In addition to the challenges finding teachers, schools are also struggling with filling positions in critical specialties like special education and classroom support.

The Hardest-to-Fill Positions in Today’s Schools

Several school specialties are currently facing dire staffing challenges. Let’s break down some of the positions schools say are hardest-to-fill, and how shortages in these areas can impact students.

Special Education
Special education positions consistently rank as the most difficult to fill across all school levels. According to NCES’s School Pulse Panel, 74% of elementary and middle schools reported difficulty hiring fully certified special education teachers for the 2024-25 school year, with 66% of high schools facing the same challenge. This shortage has profound implications. Students with disabilities require specialized instruction, individualized education plans (IEPs), and support from trained professionals who understand diverse learning needs. When these positions remain vacant or are filled by underqualified staff, students’ educational progress and legal protections under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) can be at risk. The demand for special education teachers continues to outpace supply due to several factors: the specialized credentials required, the emotional and physical demands of the role, and increasing numbers of students qualifying for special education services. Many districts find themselves competing for a limited pool of candidates, making recruitment increasingly challenging.

ESL and Bilingual Education

English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education positions represent another critical shortage area. Data shows that 69% of high schools and 59% of elementary schools reported difficulty filling these positions with fully certified teachers. As student populations become increasingly diverse, the need for qualified bilingual educators has never been greater. These specialists not only teach English language skills but also serve as cultural bridges, helping students and families navigate the education system while maintaining connections to their heritage languages.

Physical Sciences and STEM
Science education, particularly physical sciences, presents significant hiring challenges. According to NCES findings, 71% of middle schools and 66% of high schools struggled to fill physical science teaching positions. Mathematics and other STEM subjects face similar shortages, as qualified candidates often pursue higher-paying opportunities in the private sector.

Foreign Language and Other Subject Areas
Foreign language instruction faces a 69% difficulty rate at the middle school level and 59% at elementary schools. Other shortage areas include general elementary teachers, English Language Arts instructors, and career and technical education specialists.

Non-Teaching Positions
The staffing crisis extends beyond teachers. Schools report significant challenges filling essential support roles:

• Classroom Aides and Paraprofessionals: Critical for supporting special education and general education classrooms
• Custodial Staff: 78% of schools struggled to fill these positions
• Mental Health Professionals: Including counselors, psychologists, and social workers
• Tutors: Essential for intervention and academic support programs

How MSPs Solve These Complex Staffing Challenges

Managed Service Providers offer comprehensive solutions that go far beyond traditional staffing methods. Here’s how MSPs are uniquely positioned to help schools place qualified personnel in their hardest-to-fill positions:

Specialized Recruitment Expertise and Networks
MSPs maintain extensive networks of qualified education professionals, including hard-to-find specialists in special education, ESL, and STEM fields. Unlike traditional as-needed recruiting, MSPs continuously cultivate relationships with candidates, maintaining pipelines of qualified professionals even before positions become vacant. For special education roles specifically, MSPs understand the nuanced certification requirements across different states and can identify candidates with the right combination of credentials, experience, and specialization.

Proactive Workforce Planning
Rather than reactive hiring when positions become vacant, MSPs help schools anticipate staffing needs through data analysis and trend forecasting. By examining factors like retirement projections, historical turnover rates, and enrollment trends, MSPs can help districts get ahead of shortages before they impact students. This proactive approach is particularly valuable for specialized positions like ESL teachers, where demographic shifts in student populations may be predictable months or years in advance.

Streamlined Credentialing and Compliance
One of the most time-consuming aspects of education hiring is verifying credentials, certifications, background checks, and other compliance requirements. MSPs manage this process efficiently, maintaining up-to-date records and ensuring all candidates meet state and federal requirements before placement. For specialized roles requiring specific certifications, such as special education teachers needing specific endorsements or ESL teachers requiring particular credentials, this expertise can be invaluable.

Flexible Staffing Solutions
MSPs offer multiple engagement models to address different types of staffing challenges including direct placements, long-term substitute arrangements, and interim staffing. This flexibility is especially helpful for special education positions, where schools might need immediate coverage while conducting thorough searches for permanent candidates.

Operational and Quality Optimization
By managing job postings, initial screenings, interviews, and offer negotiations, MSPs free up HR staff and administrators to focus on other priorities. For smaller districts with limited HR capacity, this support can be transformative. MSPs can also optimize budgets for schools by helping them avoid hidden costs and finding the best staffing rates available in their market. An MSP partnership can also help with quality optimization, since MSPs track placement success, gather feedback, and continuously refine recruitment strategies. This data-driven approach ensures schools receive candidates who not only have the right credentials but also fit well with school culture and student needs.

Building Sustainable Solutions for Education Staffing

The education staffing crisis won’t be resolved overnight, but MSP partnerships offer schools a strategic path forward. By combining specialized recruitment expertise, extensive talent networks, streamlined processes, and flexible solutions, MSPs can help ensure that every classroom has a qualified teacher and every student receives the support they deserve.

As schools continue navigating the challenges of filling special education, ESL, STEM, and other critical positions, partnering with an MSP can offer schools sustainable, long-term workforce solutions that benefit students, educators, and communities alike.

Want to learn more about an MSP partnership? Connect with our team at Sunburst Workforce Advisors today.