How Act 10 contributes to teacher shortages — and how it doesn’t

I was at commencement ceremonies for the University of WisconsinMilwaukee in May. A family member was getting a degree. I had a good view of the messages a lot of students wrote on the top of their mortarboards — exuberant, hopeful, grateful, wacky and more.

The messages of those who were graduating with education degrees grabbed me. One was a message to, I assume, her parents and teachers: “You had faith in me so I can have faith in them,” her future students.

The idealism of a new teacher — sometimes you can express a lot in a few words. It made me almost sad because there just aren’t as many people as we need who are feeling that idealism and who are on paths toward these greatly important jobs. Why not? A week ago in this space, I described new “emergency” rules implemented by the state Department of Public Instruction to deal with teacher shortages across Wisconsin, particularly in some subjects and in some locales. Basically, the state is easing some rules on qualifying to teach. Describing that was complex enough that I didn’t talk about what led to it.

“How can you not include any comments towards the shortage without a mention of the effects of Act 10?” That was the opening sentence of the first email I received. Similar emails followed.

So let’s talk about Act 10.

To recap: In his first months as governor in 2011, Scott Walker proposed requiring most employees of state government and many other public employees in Wisconsin to pay more toward their health insurance and retirement benefits. And Walker went far beyond that, proposing that almost all public employee unions be stripped of almost all power and that contract provisions that shaped many aspects of work be all but wiped out.

A huge explosion of protest followed, with teachers prominently involved.

Walker and Republicans in the Legislature won in the end, and the effects of the law known as Act 10 have been playing out since. The Journal Sentinel and the Marquette University College of Communication collaborated on an excellent project in 2016 on the impacts.

There is no question in my mind that the Act 10 battle unleashed a lot of ill will against teachers. Whoever you want to blame for that, teachers in big numbers emerged feeling disrespected, to put it mildly. Morale fell.

“Because of this legislation, teachers were painted in such a negative light,” wrote Andrew Docktor, the person who sent that first email. “As a result of Act 10, the working conditions for teachers in Wisconsin have deteriorated. Teacher voices have been muted. Why would any high school graduate from WI want to become a teacher? Where is the incentive? Walking around with a target on your back is not fun.”

(Docktor told me that he taught in Milwaukee Public Schools for 17 years before moving away when he got married in 2009, ahead of Act 10. He teaches in Illinois now.)

Combine the intangible impacts with the tangible (limited pay increases and changes in work environments and career paths) and you have a teacher work force where job dissatisfaction remains high.

I think this is all real and serious. I’ve said for years that Wisconsin will regret the wave of hostility that was directed at teachers.

More to the picture

But there is a lot more at work than Act 10 when it comes to attracting and keeping people in teaching.

The roots of the shortages were showing up before 2011. For example, it was already getting challenging to find math and science teachers.

The number of people in college-level programs to train teachers has fallen sharply, but the drop began before Act 10. And, the percentage declines in some other states, where there was no Act 10, are higher than in Wisconsin.

It is hard to pin down numbers of how many veteran teachers have quit or retired early because of Act 10. Some years, in some places, turnover has been high. But teachers quit for many reasons.

There are indeed many reasons that being a teacher is not so attractive these days, probably less attractive than a couple of decades ago. More pressure and testing. More bureaucracy and paperwork. In some schools, bigger class sizes and/or fewer aides in classrooms as staffs shrink. Another intangible, but one you hear all the time if you talk: The kids are harder to work with. More have emotional and behavioral problems, fewer are motivated.

And it’s a changed world outside of schools. For example, there are a lot more attractive career choices for young women now than a couple of generations ago. This is a good development, but it does impact the “pipeline” to teaching.

Put it all together and it’s a challenge to recruit teachers. Act 10 and other devices of our own making are definitely part of the picture. But it’s a picture with a lot of elements.

It’s also a picture that needs a lot of attention. State education leaders say the new emergency rules are the start of a bigger look at how to deal with shortages and related issues.

We need that big look, for the sake of the future of the state. Teaching remains a hugely important career. All of us need to value and respect teachers. We need to do what we can to make teaching a doable, satisfying and rewarding job. The more we make teaching a good job, the better the teachers we have will be.

In short, we need more mortarboards that say, “I’m keeping the teaching faith and I’m on my way to a great job.”