Just over 40% of the 434 teaching vacancies in Iowa’s public school districts this school year are in special education, a persistently difficult area to fill nationally and in the state.

Data recently released by the Iowa Department of Education shows that 1.12% of the state’s 38,750 full-time equivalent teaching positions are vacant. The most vacancies are in special education, which this school year has 184 vacancies. Vacant positions also exist in music (35), mathematics (28), general science (28), English as a second language (19) and world languages (19).

The department did not provide information on which districts had teaching vacancies or whether the vacancies were in elementary, middle or high schools.

Nationwide, there are at least 56,000 vacant full-time equivalent teaching positions. The number represents about 3% of all full-time teaching positions. Like Iowa, the national teacher shortages are in special education, math and science.

During the 2024-25 school year, 1.75% or 661 full-time equivalent teaching positions in Iowa were vacant, according to the state education department. There were 221 vacancies in special education last school year and 76 in general science.

“Building upon our collective work to strengthen Iowa’s teacher pipeline, we will continue partnering with educators, schools and districts, teacher preparation programs, and communities to deepen support for those endorsement areas and geographies most in need of great teachers,” McKenzie Snow, the state’s education director, said in a prepared statement.

Teacher shortage areas are reported annually to the federal education department. States can report critical teacher shortage areas of up to 5% of their full-time equivalent positions. Iowa’s total teacher shortage areas have been under the 5% federal threshold, allowing the state to include every teaching area with at least one vacancy as a teacher shortage area. This year, Iowa included 26 potential teacher shortage areas across various classroom subjects.

“By reporting all possible teacher shortage area designations, teachers serving in these identified areas may become eligible for student loan repayment, forgiveness and other incentives available through state and federal programs,” Jay Pennington, division administrator of teacher quality and innovation at the Iowa education department, said in a prepared statement.