OPS will start the school year with more teachers as district sees rebound in staffing

OPS is starting the school year with 3,678 teachers, which is 116 more than last school year, according to data provided by the district. The district has added about 692 staff members in total.

This is the second school year in a row that the district’s teaching staff has grown. OPS added 81 teachers and 396 staff members in total between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.

Collette Nero, OPS’s chief talent services officer, said she sees staff numbers trending in the right direction following the district’s struggles with staffing after the pandemic.

“I think we’re just continuing to see signs of recovery,” she said. “Each year it’s getting better.”

Nero said she’s seen gains across the board, including in the district’s number of paraprofessionals, transportation workers and nutrition services staff.

“It’s just good all the way around,” she said.

The district has also seen improvements in retention following the mass staffing exodus during the 2021-22 school year, when nearly 700 staff members either retired or resigned.

The district saw 261 resignations and retirements during the 2024-25 school year, which was down slightly from 270 departures during the 2023-24 school year.

Increased wages have been a big factor in improving recruitment and retention, Nero said. The contract approved in 2023 between OPS and the Omaha Education Association included a $7,200 increase in base pay for teachers over three years. That brings the starting teacher salary this fall to $51,200.

The district also approved further pay increases for special education teachers, instructional facilitators, paraprofessionals and teachers with advanced degrees in May 2024.

The district’s 2024-25 budget included an $85 million increase in staff salaries and benefits from the 2023-24 budget. The district’s 2025-26 budget has not yet been approved.

Nero said her team has also implemented new ways of addressing retention, including creating an employee navigator position to help support staff. The district also recruits candidates from across the country and positions itself as a “destination location” for those looking to work in a large urban district, she said.

The district still has improvements to make in staffing, especially with special education teachers and math and science teachers, Nero said. The district is starting the year with 20 unfilled special education teacher positions, which is down from 24 last year.

The district’s number of teachers also still lags behind pre-pandemic levels, when the district hovered around 4,000 teachers.

Nero said the goal is to continue to work toward getting closer to pre-pandemic levels, but she’s “cautiously celebratory” about recent improvements.

“When I’ve been talking with principals, everybody feels better staffed, more supported, more prepared and equipped to greet our students than they have in the past, so that’s always a good sign,” she said.

Nero said she hopes staffing improvements can help reduce teacher burnout and allow for more professional development opportunities as the district focuses on its moonshot goal of having all students read on grade level by 2030.

“If you have more people available, they’re not as stressed out, and we can then provide that development we know in the end is going to improve and impact student outcomes,” she said.