EDITORIAL: Alleviating teacher shortage should be a priority

And it seems to be a lifestyle fewer and fewer young people are willing to adopt.

The United States is in the midst of a teacher shortage, and in Pennsylvania the situation has been described as “dire and worsening.” There has been a 67% drop in the number of new educators who have become certified over the last decade, and in the 2020-21 school year the number of emergency permits issued to individuals to take teaching jobs exceeded the number of new teaching certifications from in-state programs.

At a hearing of the state Senate’s education committee this week, Pennsylvania State Education Association president Rich Askey said, “Never before have I been so concerned about the future of education in our commonwealth. The educator shortage is a crisis. It is not some ideological wedge issue, it is not a minor problem that we can put off to the future. It is a disaster that is staring us in the face right now.”

Also this week, the organizations Start Strong PA and Pre-K for PA released survey data that showcased the staffing crisis in child care, pre-K and Head Start programs across Pennsylvania. All told, there are 4,000 open positions, and almost all child-care providers have reported staffing shortages. This means that more than 35,000 children are parked on waiting lists to get into programs, and more than 30,000 additional children could be served if sites were fully staffed.

Certainly one reason so many teaching jobs have gone unfilled is pay. No one wants to work hard – and teaching children at any level is demanding – and find themselves having to take on a second job to make ends meet, or subsist wholly on peanut butter and noodles. Nationally, the average starting salary for teachers is a little more than $41,000, which would hardly make the profession attractive to someone who might have a mountain of student debt and hopes of eventually having enough money to purchase a home and provide for a family. The situation is even worse among providers of child care – pay averages less than $12.50 an hour, and 50% of the professionals working in the sector qualify to receive government benefits.

Raising salaries is one way to make teaching more attractive. Askey has recommended raising the minimum salary of all K-12 education professionals to $60,000 a year. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) has asked that the Legislature and Gov. Josh Shapiro provide funding in the upcoming budget that would allow students majoring in education to get some relief on their tuition bills. Each student would save an average of $1,500 per year, and high-need students could get up to $6,500 in relief per year.

Estimates have it that 10,000 additional teachers will be needed in Pennsylvania than the number available today. Simply put, something needs to be done to draw more people to the field. Teaching may be a noble profession, but it shouldn’t come with a vow of poverty attached.