Ariz. created own teacher shortage
How do you create a teacher shortage? A) Lower the prestige of the profession. B) Offer low wages. C) Raise the cost of entering the profession. D) All of the above. The answer, of course, is “D.” That is also the grade our state will earn in 21st-century economic and social development if we don’t find a way to turn things around.
Public schools are the great promise of a free society, and teachers are the key and irreplaceable element in a good public-education system.
Yet in a country where salary equates with status, teachers have slipped from being able to make a living to relying on second jobs to get by.
Meanwhile, efforts to recognize the challenges and improve our public-education system often stray from constructive criticism into a drumbeat of negativity that fails to acknowledge progress.
Arizona needs to look hard at the twin realities of what teachers face and how our schools are performing — despite severe cuts during the recession that have not been restored.
Arizona is the only state to show statistically significant increases in National Assessment of Educational Progress scores in fourth- and eighth-grade math, science and reading between 2009 and 2015, says Dan Hunting, senior policy analyst at the Morrison Institute.
This is a very big deal. The scores are not as high as they should be. But the trajectory is in the right direction. But you haven’t heard much about it. What you hear about is the vast expansion of a voucher program that provides public funding for private schools, and Gov. Doug Ducey’s budget proposal for a 0.4 percent raise for public-school teachers.
Public-school teachers have called both insulting.
Arizona’s elementary-school-teacher salaries rank “dead last” in the nation when adjusted for cost of living, Hunting says. High-school-teacher salaries come in at 48th out of 50 states, he says.
Hunting is the principal researcher for the upcoming Morrison Institute for Public Policy report “Finding and Keeping Educators for Arizona’s Classrooms.”
Some of the findings were released early, and they show a big problem.
Elementary-school teachers in Arizona get paid 14 percent less than they did in 2001, and high-school teachers get 11 percent less, when wages are adjusted for inflation.
Every year, the number of teachers leaving the classroom exceeds the number of new teachers graduated by Arizona’s three universities.
A whopping 74 percent of the Arizona school administrators surveyed say their schools face teacher shortages.
It’s not surprising that a bright young person hoping to raise a family would reject teaching as a profession.
The low salaries are disincentive enough. The huge jump in the cost of tuition at Arizona’s public universities puts education majors at a further disadvantage, because it means many will graduate with hefty student debt.
Ducey’s proposal for a tuition-forgiveness program for teachers would help. The plan is still being weighed by lawmakers. It would also help if lawmakers provided funding for significant teacher raises. Those who are in the classroom today have shown dedication and commitment despite lagging wages, rising challenges and far too little appreciation.
Hunting says there is no “magic wand” solution. And he’s right.
Arizona needs to pursue better wages for teachers, better support for schools, more ways to show respect for teachers and appreciation for the progress schools have made.