41 Percent of Chicago Teachers Were Chronically Absent Last Year, Report Finds

More than four in 10 public school teachers in Chicago were chronically absent last year, according to a new report released by the Illinois State Board of Education. Chronically absent teachers missed 10 or more days of school, including sick days and other personal leave, but not including most long-term leave, such as parental or medical leave, according to the report.

The problem isn’t confined to Chicago. While 41 percent of Chicago teachers were chronically absent, 34 percent of teachers statewide were also chronically absent. According to a recent article in The 74, an education-focused news outlet, the problem is likely persistent across the country, though only a few states track this data. A 2022 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics found that 72 percent of public schools reported that teacher absences increased “a lot” or “a little” when compared to before the pandemic.

The consequences of teacher absenteeism are significant. “When the kids are there, the school needs someone to cover the classroom. In education, an absence means someone has to pick up the slack, so when a teacher is out, it has real, immediate costs,” writes Chad Aldeman, a reporter for The 74. “As might be expected, research has found that one-off substitute teachers are not nearly as effective as regular full-time teachers. Lower-achieving students are both more likely to be assigned to subs and more negatively harmed when their regular teacher is absent.”

Why is this happening at all? Aldeman isn’t sure. After analyzing the data, he says he found “only very small correlations between teacher attendance and the rate at which they stayed with their district employer, the evaluations they received or the district’s overall staffing levels.” He also noted he didn’t find evidence suggesting that higher teacher absenteeism was driven by an increase in sick days. 

No matter the cause, when teachers are absent from the classroom, their students end up learning less. Adding insult to injury, Chicago spent over 22 percent of its local funds on public pensions in 2024—up from 6.8 percent in 2014. Meanwhile, the state government is projected to spend $11.2 billion dollars on pensions in 2025, with one of the largest single state pension funds being the one developed for public school teachers.

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