ALGONA, Iowa -- Schools across Iowa are having to source teachers from online companies due to in-person teacher shortages.

The start of another school year is within the next week for many school districts across the state. However, many still have unfilled full-time classroom teacher positions.

According to Teach Iowa, there are still over 500 classroom teacher positions that are unfilled in the state. Out of those, 30 are world language teachers.

Joe Carter, superintendent at the Algona Community School District, said that applications for all positions have greatly declined over the past decade.

"Some ten years ago, it wouldn't be abnormal to get 50 to 75 applicants for a position in rural Iowa, which is where I was," Carter said. "Now, you know, we're probably going to get five or

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