Teacher Workload and Staff Vacancies Remain Top Challenges for Schools

• By Rhea Kelly
• 02/20/26

Cloud-based education software provider PowerSchool recently released its 2026 K-12 EdTech Pulse report, a national survey of more than 1,300 educators and administrators conducted in collaboration with Project Tomorrow. The annual report examines how school systems are adopting technology, data, and artificial intelligence to address their most urgent challenges, according to a news announcement.

Across roles, respondents agreed that teacher workload and recruitment and retention of staff continue to top the list of the most significant challenges facing schools, followed by financial concerns. A breakdown of responses by role reveals that while teacher workload is the key concern for classroom educators, district administrators have financial concerns at top of mind. In fact, that challenge has jumped from No. 14 for district administrators in 2024 to No. 1 for 2025, climbing 22 percentage points among that group. Respondents pointed to political uncertainty and economic fluctuations (49%), unanticipated costs due to legislative mandates (42%), and challenges in forecasting student enrollment (31%) as their biggest budget pressures. And as a result, one in three budget leaders (32%) are considering or have already delayed tech upgrades/maintenance to save on costs.

The survey asked about the top district priorities that respondents thought could be most effectively addressed with technology solutions. Areas where respondents felt technology would make the biggest impact include:

1. Addressing student absenteeism and promoting attendance;
2. Analyzing organization-wide data for patterns and insights;
3. Communicating with families and caregivers;
4. Connecting data across siloed sources;
5. Equipping educators with high-quality core instructional materials for the classroom; and
6. Supporting staff in their efficient and effective use of data.

In particular, the report identified AI as a critical support tool for teachers. Fifty percent of educators cited AI tools that support personalized learning as the year's top technology trend, noting that such tools could have the greatest impact on teacher effectiveness over the next two to four years. Forty percent of classroom educators agreed that AI's biggest contribution to boosting teacher effectiveness will be helping reduce procedural and administrative work through AI agents. And overall, respondents indicated that educators in their district are already using AI to draft communications (cited by 57% of respondents), research and support lesson planning (46%), and track student progress and performance trends (29%). Those uses add up to the potential to free up time for instruction and relationship-building, respondents said.

"What we're seeing in this year's report is a clear shift from viewing technology as a collection of tools to seeing it as a system-level enabler," said Trip Kucera, vice president of innovation and research at PowerSchool, in a statement. "District leaders and educators are looking for coherent, connected approaches that use data and AI responsibly to give teachers time back, help students succeed, and strengthen relationships with families, while also allowing districts to make confident decisions in the face of real financial uncertainty."

"The 2026 findings show that educators are ready to move beyond tools and toward system‑level solutions that improve teaching, learning, and student outcomes, commented Dr. Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow. "With the right data and technology, schools can create the future-ready learning experiences students deserve."

The full report is available here on the PowerSchool site.