The Insanity of the Teacher Shortage

So I was driving into work one morning this week and heard on the radio that a nearby township (Pearland, TX) is so short on teaching staff that they are literally asking the PTA, regardless of their college experience, education experience or lack thereof, to step into the classroom as “substitutes”. It was reported that this is a step that Pearland ISD is taking to help alleviate the teacher shortage in their school system.?

In similar fashion, other states and school systems have felt the need to fill in gaps and shortages through other “inventive” means.. Over the summer Arizona’s Governor Doucy signed a law allowing college students to take teaching positions prior to graduation. Governor Ron DeSantis (FL) allows for military veterans with at least 60 credit hours and a 2.5 GPA to teach after completing a short preparatory program. Some ISD’s are now having 4 day weeks to save money, and deal with the shortage, and others are simply increasing class sizes to make up the losses.

In the meantime, other districts and systems are turning to other means to increase retention and recruitment of teachers utilizing such things as signing bonuses, increased first year pay, retention bonuses, referral bonuses and relocation funding. I’ve read 2 very specific things: There are several districts in Texas and Florida that are now starting teachers at $60,000 (!), which is about $10,000 higher than the previously reported “higher end starting salaries” for 1st year teachers. Unfortunately, some of these districts are now “new teacher” heavy, as those with more experience were given less incentive to stay because imagine being on 8th step and making 61,800 a year, or a 3% increase of your starting salary in a little less than a decade!

The other really “out there” thing I’ve read about is how some superintendents are sharing a website that is tracking leaving and incoming teachers, in order to recruit and share this information. I understand that this is actually a great way to recruit, but it does feel – well a little Orwellian. Imagine leaving a position in Idaho, moving to Illinois and having the superintendent of the local school calling you - prior to your applying for the job! Again, anecdotally, I’ve heard of this happening - can’t really prove it.

But to put it mildly, I’m a little salty on this entire issue: The Teacher Shortage. Seemingly everyone’s running around as if the sky is falling (and it is!), and everyone finally acknowledges that teachers are incredibly important (they are). And, if we don’t do something about this, there’s going to be a drastic issue within the state of American Education (also true).

So why am I “salty” over this??

Glad you asked: Several years ago, I was offered and accepted a position in Senior Leadership at a Houston Private School. However, that position was defunded after 2 years, leaving my family and I, financially, in a pickle - to say the least. After said defunding, I decided to head back to the classroom, where I had been for 24+ years prior to the Administration thing. I tried, incredibly hard, to get into the Texas Public School System as a teacher, and I don’t mean “I put in a single application and sat back and waited”. I mean I applied to any and every district that had openings that I was qualified to fill, in fact, I made it a full time job, often sitting in my home office 40+ hours a week, sending out resumes, cover letters, letters of introduction, filling out applications and making phone calls.?

Now before anyone decides to go down the “well, you were in “Private Education”, and these are “public schools””, let me remind you that some governors are now CHANGING the definition of the term “qualified teacher”, and others are asking members of school boards and PTA’s to step into the classroom as “subs” where there are not enough people to fully staff a school. I read, recently, that there are currently some 34-56 thousand open teaching positions throughout the United States, and some 163 thousand “under qualified” educators teaching either on emergency certification or yet to have graduated from University, but are still being allowed to teach.?

Oh, and also, I had, at that time (2019), 24 years experience in schools ranging from Public, Private (for and non profit) and Public Charter. My years of experience at that moment were: Classroom teacher (23), Department Chair (20), Advisor (8), Grade Level Coordinator (6), and Senior Administration (2). I had ProD credits that amount to approximately a zillion credit hours (only a slight exaggeration, I average well over 20 per year). In fact during the 2 years prior to this situation, I had completed 16 courses on leadership, teaching and learning, navigating change in school environments, as well as administration. I had attended the HGSE Project Zero Initiative Summer Institute, in addition to having held certifications in both Music and English in the State of Massachusetts.?

But, when I applied for my TEA Certification, I received — well nothing back from the state of Texas about whether or not they would honor reciprocity with my MA License, or what other classes/courses or preparation materials would be required to receive my certification. I had also applied for the Professional Certification in Administration, as I had passed both the SEL660 (MD Educational Leadership Examination), and the Praxis 2 (Educational Leadership). I submitted a variety of transcripts, scores, and ProD certificates.?

And….nothing. I checked recently, and still there’s been no movement on what’s needed, or lacking, excepting my fingerprint/background information. Which I supplied to them in 2019, and again in 2020, as I needed to have both done for other positions.

As far as School systems, I applied to: Alief ISD, Spring Branch ISD, Katy ISD, HISD, Sugarland and Cy-Fair ISD, as well as Yes Prep, and KIPP charter schools. I attended 3 or 4 hiring fairs, and had interviews on site with promised follow ups. Which never came.? I never received a single call, a single interview from the multitude of applications and resumes for public schools. (BTW: this is not true in the Private School industry, I had interviews, and made the finalist rounds in several, to then…never hear anything after that….just as frustrating to be honest).

In fact, the single public ISD interview I received from an application, and not a hiring fair, was for Director of Fine Arts at Alief ISD. During this process I made it through 2 rounds, and then I heard nothing for 5 weeks. Which is when I received the inevitable: “We’ve made a decision and will be going in a “different” direction” email - not even a thank you for your time, or interest.?

I suspect (assume) it was in all likelihood the fact I didn’t have my….certification! Although my most recent position was: “Director of Fine Arts”, the defunded position, from which I had my portfolio and the full support of my former Head of School, as the defunding came from above her head!?

What am I saying in this post? Is this really just sour grapes about my personal experiences?

Well, yes there are some sour grapes, admittedly. In fact I am less inclined than ever to return to public school education due to the treatment, the run arounds, and the insane leaps and hoops one must jump through to be a public school teacher in most states throughout America. I object to the insane notion that you have to spend better than $100,000 for your education to have a starting salary of $60,000 and a less than 1% increase per year so that by year 20, if you are one of the +/-20% who stay in education, and you don’t decide to go into administration; you can be making….$69,122 - total of a 9K increase over 20 years!

FYI: that’s a total increase of: 14% over 2 decades of education and experience, ongoing education. Even if you have made a PHD by this point (and stay in the classroom, you have a GRAND TOTAL of $1,000 more each year, so you're at a whopping $70,122 so add another gigantic… 1%!?

For your doctorate. A degree that cost you around $92,000 to receive - what an excellent ROI that is…..

But what is the "real reason" am I writing this today?

Because, the greater Houston area has approximately 3,400 openings for teachers and administrators. A minimum of 532 are in HISD itself, and the rest are spread across the other 18 ISD’s that make up the greater Houston Educational map. And, the fact is, there are qualified people out there, myself included, who would have been not just willing to enter the classroom, but overjoyed to do so. And with that, we would be bringing our years of experience, our talents and our love of educating students! Except that many states have made it increasingly difficult (and expensive) to receive, and retain your certification - all while there is an active shortage of teaching staff. And, then, in order to stop the hemorrhaging, and lack of teaching staff, they are forced to put in these aforementioned "Stop Gap" structures and incentives.

I ask you this: is it better to suggest that the PTA step in as “subs” (warm bodies in a classroom), while ignoring professional educators from the private education industry, or would it be better to look at a person’s years of experience, their professional development, and grant a certification based on their life and teaching experiences?