NEBRASKA - Educational leaders in Nebraska are calling on local school boards, state lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts to address a growing school staffing crisis.

More than 1,000 teachers have left the state's two largest school districts since the pandemic began.

Omaha Public Schools reported 239 teachers left in 2019-2020 and 320 in 2020-2021. Lincoln Public Schools saw similar departures with 251 teachers leaving in 2019-2020 and 241 in 2020-2021.

One former Nebraska teacher says she left the profession for a less stressful 9 to 5 job and claims that many of her colleagues have considered the same.

The Nebraska State Education Association calls it a crisis. They have since asked their 28,000 members what needs to be done in order to not only retain teachers, but to attract future teachers to the profession.

"We need to really listen to educators who are in the classroom doing the work and that's very important for our school boards and our legislators," Benson said.

Benson said they've already made some recommendations including using Federal American Pandemic Recovery Act funds to give $1,000 bonuses, allowing more planning time for teachers and additional family leave for COVID-19 related exposures.

Governor Pete Ricketts said that the issue is more in the hands of local school boards than it is the state's, but he is open to conversation on the topic if the legislature decides they want to discuss it.

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