Why are Teacher Shortages Becoming More and More Prevalent?

Teaching quality is the number one concern of public schools. Schools and school boards realize that the most effective way to improve student achievement is having an experienced quality educator in the classroom. With this in mind, why are public schools struggling to attract and retain quality teachers?

Some research indicates that teacher quality is directly related to teacher compensation. Unfortunately for those of us in education, it has been reported that for a long period of time, teacher’s compensation in general has lost pace with others who have similar education and work experience. As reported in 2006, by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), teacher earnings as compared to other comparable professionals lags behind nearly 15%.

What does this mean? I believe it really points to the fact that college-educated professionals in other work areas tend to benefit with greater earnings as compared to teachers. In essence, we have bypassed teachers when it has come to improved wages and earning power. This pattern held true during EPIs study period of 1996-2006.

In addition, where teacher salaries have increased, they have done so much below the rate of inflation. According to the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the National Education Association (NEA) indicated that the average one-year teacher salary increase in 2005 was 2.1%, while inflation was at 3.1%. In fact, WEAC also reported that teacher salaries from the mid 90s to 2005 only increased by .2% when adjusted for inflation.

Indeed, I find myself close to this situation, as I am presently the lead negotiator for my education association. My current agrument is that the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients was determined to be 5.8% in October 2008, an adjustment to keep pace with inflation. Our local school board’s current offer is 3.0% for 2009-10 and 2.66% for 2010-11. This two-year contract offer will fall far short of keeping up with inflation, and that means more of the same when it comes to our ever-growing concerns of trying to pay the bills and set some money aside.

Unfortunately, whether we are talking about reduced earning power compared to other professions or the fact that most teacher raises do not keep up with inflation, it all equals the continuation of what already has been identified as a trend – the struggle to attract and recruit quality teachers to our profession.