The Arizona School Administrators Association and Northern Arizona University partnered to help tackle and improve the well-being of school administrators.
Paul Tighe, the executive director of ASA, told ABC15 they started this survey around February and found preliminary data about the stressors that school administrators go through. Administrators can include school district superintendents as well as school principals.
Tighe said there have been several surveys in the state to study the teacher shortage, but there are few and far between for school administrators.
“We certainly are concerned because, you know, the teacher shortage leads to a principal shortage, which leads to a superintendent shortage. I mean, that's kind of the pipeline,” Tighe said. “So, we're trying to be a little bit proactive, but also you know, recognizing there already is a shortage for administrators and it's perhaps going to get worse.”
According to the executive summary of the report, The Superintendent Lab says between 2022-23 and the 2023-24 school year, 21.5% of all K-12 public school districts in the state have experienced a superintendent transition. About 56.6% of school districts experienced at least one superintendent transition in the past five years.
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Despite school administrators feeling fulfilled with their jobs to help public education, they’re facing many stressors, according to the report. Studies show stressors include the lack of funding for schools, pay, workload and more.
“I've seen a lot of changes in my career and the unbelievable shortages of all kinds of resources, whether they're financial or personal or just support in general have really, really impacted public education in general,” said Dr. Barbara Remondini, the superintendent of Wickenburg Unified.
NAU is working on putting together a comprehensive report including solutions and a toolkit to help. Tighe said they’re hoping to have that released by the end of this year.
