as schools across the country Struggling to find teachers To appoint, more governors are pushing for higher wages, bonuses and other perks for the embattled profession — with some vowing to outsmart other states competing for teachers.
Already in 2023, the governors of Georgia and Arkansas have pushed through teacher salary increases. Before National Teacher Appreciation Week begins Monday, others — bipartisan — have suggested doing the same to attract and retain teachers.
More than half of state governors over the past year — 26 so far — have proposed increasing teacher compensation, according to groups that track it. The nonprofit Teacher Salary Project said it was the most it had seen in nearly two decades of tracking.
“Today we have conservatives left and right from every political party and then some who are addressing this issue because they have to,” said founder and CEO Ninivé Caligari. “We’ve never seen what we’re seeing now. Never.”
In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little aims to bring the state’s median salary up to the 10 highest paid in the country. And in Delaware, Gov. John Carney said the competition for teachers is more intense than ever, and that salary increases are necessary to “win the competition with surrounding states.”
It’s not clear how far the pay increases will go toward mitigating the shortfall, however, and some teachers say it’s too little, too late to fix problems still in the making.
blame on teacher shortage It has come down to a lack of funding after the Great Recession, tight labor markets, and poor enrollment in the United States Colleges and programs that train teachers and teachers being overwhelmed by the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
he was not there Mass exodusBut data from some of the states that track teacher turnover showed an increase in the number of teachers who left the profession over the past two years.
Deficiencies are most acute in certain regions, including the poorest or Most of the rural areassay the researchers. Districts also report particular difficulties with hiring for required subjects such as special education, math, and science.
At the same time, teachers’ salaries fell further and further from those of their peers who graduated from colleges in other fields, as teachers reported increased workloads, diminished autonomy and Increasingly hostile school environments.
Magann Daniel, who just left the Alabama Central School District at 33, wasn’t persuaded to stay by salary increases as Alabama’s governor pledged to make teacher salaries higher in the Southeast. It would take significant increases to match neighboring Georgia, where the average teacher salary is $62,200, according to the National Education Association.
She said fixing the deteriorating work culture of teachers and increasing workloads would be a stronger incentive than higher wages.
She recalled, for example, that her principal had asked her to make copies and lesson plans last fall while she was on unpaid maternity leave. Difficulty getting replacements is stressing teachers who need emergency leave, she said, and spending nights and weekends on paperwork sappes the joy out of teaching.
“I’m not going back just because of a higher salary,” said Daniel.
In Oklahoma, Joshua Morgan, 46, left his rural area a year ago because after 18 years he still made less than $47,000. The Oklahoma governor is talking about giving out performance bonuses, but Morgan said he’d only go back to teaching for much more money — like $65,000 a year.
The national median salary for public school teachers in 2021-22 increased 2% from the previous year to $66,745, according to the NEA, the nation’s largest teachers’ union. Inflation peaked around 9% at that time.
For new recruits, the calculations for paying for a college education are grim: The national average salary for a junior teacher was $42,845 in 2021-22, according to the National Education Agency. Teachers often qualify for Public service loan forgivenesswhich waives student debts after they pay 10 years of monthly installments.
Along with fewer teachers earning degrees, the “teacher fine” — the gap between teachers’ salaries and their college-educated peers in other professions — is increasing.
It reached a record high of 23.5% in 2021. Teachers earn an average of 76.5 cents for every dollar earned by other professionals alumnus of the college, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
Researchers say it has been expanding for decades. For men it is 35% and for women it is 17% – which reflects The gender pay gap seen across the US economy.
For Rachel Otto and other Louisiana teachers, the prospect of a $3,000 salary increase proposed by the governor might be appreciated. At roughly $200 a month after taxes, Otto said, it’s not enough to keep a teacher who feels overwhelmed or frustrated.
“I know there are teachers who are willing to take pay cuts to leave the profession,” said Otto, 38, a science teacher in rural Louisiana. “If you double the salary, maybe that will change their thinking.”
Silvia Allegreto, a senior economist who studies teacher compensation at the Center for Economics and Policy Research, called one-time conservative salary promises a “band-aid” that barely kept up with inflation.
“You’re kind of cutting in the margins,” Allegretto said. “You don’t generally solve the problem.”
For the Conservatives, increasing teacher salaries might be good policy, but raising them across the board might have little effect in the long run. Researchers say getting better data on where the deficiency is and then targeting the increases — or larger increases — to those areas will help the most.
Ed Fuller, an associate professor at Penn State who studies teacher quality and turnover, said research shows wage increases will have at least some effect on teacher retention. What’s hard to look for, Fuller said, is the effect of the increase on a college student’s decision to enroll in a teacher-preparation program and take on debt.
Some areas haven’t waited for governors and legislatures to act.
Kentucky’s largest school district, Louisville’s Jefferson County, gave a 4% increase last year and the board approved another 5% increase to start next July. It also began awarding an annual stipend of $8,000 to teachers who work with students most in need.
Superintendent Marty Beaulieu wants the district to be the highest paid in Kentucky, calling the teacher shortage “a real crisis and a growing crisis.”
In Pennsylvania, the William Penn School District is offering signing bonuses for long-term subs and holding its first-ever teacher recruitment fair.
Superintendent Eric Pekuats said a teacher told him they could move to neighboring districts and earn an extra $10,000 — something the small, poor district could not compete with at the moment.
Some teachers also told him that they would retire or quit the profession if they could.
Morgan said a significant change in salary is required to offset a major change in the way teachers now view a profession in which they expected to remain until their retirement.
“The world doesn’t work that way anymore,” Morgan said. “I see more teachers, especially younger ones, coming in and saying, ‘I’m not willing to put up with this.'” “
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