Three Forecasting Strategies for Staffing Needs

Focus: SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS

The adage “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” is applicable to many situations, including human capital management in a school district, where you must be ready for both long-term and emergency absences. Forecasting staffing needs can set your school district up for success.

In our Northern California district with its 11 schools and 5,600 students in grades K-8, we regularly adjust our staffing levels to account for changes in student population to limit the impact of overenrolled or underenrolled schools and programs. We’ve succeeded in meeting staffing needs by accurately forecasting how many staff absences we’ll have, how many students we’ll have — and where those students will be — and then creating a plan to fill open positions.

Three strategies capture what we do.