Opinion |

In America, teachers absent as return to school begins

The return to school is in full swing for America’s students. But not for America’s teachers.

The media landscape is filled with reports of teacher shortages, preceded by adjectives like massive, dire and catastrophic. It seems to be a coast-to-coast problem.

In Florida, there are about 8,000 teacher vacancies, up from 5,000 at the start of school last year. In Illinois, 88 percent of school districts have reported teacher shortages, with a total of 2,040 openings (including positions filled with a “less than qualified” hire). In Nevada, an estimated 3,000 positions (teachers and staff) remain unfilled across all 17 of the state’s school districts.

Here in California, some schools are struggling to staff up. The gap has been filled in part by teachers who aren’t credentialed in the particular subject matter they’re teaching. EdSource, an education news organization, estimated that in the 2020-21 school year, this was true in nearly one in five California classrooms.

Teacher shortages have been reported in nearly all subjects, including language arts, mathematics and science. A friend whose son attends a local high school told me that his English class this year is being taught by the baseball coach.

In The Atlantic, staff writer Derek Thompson recently took issue with the national teacher shortage narrative, saying it doesn’t really match the numbers — and that the data are unreliable and confusing. Yes, teacher vacancies exist — especially in rural and high-poverty school districts — but that’s been going on for decades.

As Thompson explained, “In some districts, there are too many students for the staff. In other districts, there aren’t enough students for the budget. One district might be struggling to find English teachers, while another district might only be struggling to find substitute ESL teachers. Thinking about these as equivalent phenomena is nonsensical.”

Still, Thompson acknowledged that American teachers have real problems that deserve our attention. I agree.

There are three equally important realities at play: in families, in workplaces and in the broader market. Each must be addressed, if we’re to find a path forward.

Family realities: For teachers whose children aren’t yet school age, the return to in-person instruction has meant a frantic search for quality, convenient and affordable childcare.

A report released earlier this year by the San Diego Foundation found that the annual cost of care for one infant at a licensed facility is $19,000 on average, rising to more than $33,000 for two children. For the median household here, that’s 40 percent of their income.

So, for some teachers — like other parents — staying home is an economic decision. But it’s a quality decision, too, considering that 90 percent of providers in the study reported difficulty in hiring and retaining qualified staff.

Workplace realities: About 75 percent of pre-K to grade 12 teachers who participated in the latest American Federation of Teachers survey reported that conditions have changed for the worse over the past five years.

It’s not just the usual stressors — like workload, for example. It’s also about a loss of autonomy, as parents seek to control what is taught and even read in classrooms. And what teacher could ignore the very real threat of gun violence in their workplace?

In addition, many of the nation’s schools are ill-equipped for 21^st century learning — and even, unsafe. In Columbus, Ohio, a conceptual agreement was just reached to end a teacher’s strike. Among their grievances, teachers were seeking commitments to improve heating and air conditioning in dilapidated buildings.

Marketplace realities: A new study from the Economic Policy Institute, an independent nonprofit think tank, found that teachers are paid less (in weekly wages and total compensation) than their nonteacher college-educated counterparts — a situation that has worsened considerably over the last two decades.

The so-called “teacher pay penalty” discourages college students from entering the teaching profession and makes it difficult for school districts to keep current teachers in the classroom — especially when there’s an abundance of well-paying jobs that are unfilled.

States and school districts are responding to these realities in innovative (and in some cases, questionable) ways. Florida is recruiting uncredentialed and unlicensed military veterans to teach in its schools. Georgia and other states are courting retired teachers. Rural school districts in Texas are moving to a four-day work week. And across the country, there is a movement to improve compensation by paying bonuses to teachers for taking a job and staying on it.

These well-intentioned measures will likely meet with varying degrees of success. But they don’t address the biggest gap in American education today: our loss of respect for the teaching profession. Restoring that respect is an assignment we can’t afford to ignore.

Dinkin is president of the National Conflict Resolution Center, a San Diego-based group working to create solutions to challenging issues, including intolerance and incivility. To learn about NCRC’s programming, visit ncrconline.com