Valuing teachers
Published November 10, 2014
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, November 9, 2014.
During the campaign, while candidates were busy tossing around numbers about the N.C. school budget and claiming to be champions of education, more teachers were packing up and leaving the state – or leaving the profession entirely. Now that the election is over, it’s time for our legislators to get serious about supporting education.
More North Carolina teachers left the profession last year because they were unhappy or decided to go to another state, according to a new study presented to the State Board of Education that Raleigh’s News & Observer reported on recently. About one in seven of the 96,010 teachers employed statewide during the 2012-2013 school year left their school district last year, according to the report. The numbers for 2013-14 haven’t been tallied yet, but they’re likely to be similar and perhaps higher. Teacher turnover has climbed steadily in the past five years, from 11 percent in 2009-2010, the report said.
According to the report, 1,011 teachers said they were quitting classroom jobs because they were dissatisfied with teaching or were changing careers, up from 887 the previous year and 366 five years earlier. Seven-hundred thirty-four teachers reported quitting to take teaching jobs in another state, up from 455 the previous year.
These numbers don’t include the teachers who were recruited by other states this spring and summer after complaints that North Carolina's were among the country's lowest paid, Rodney Ellis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, told the News & Observer.
"It's disconcerting that we are losing good, quality, experienced teachers that have been trained in our state," Ellis said.
In the meantime, they also had to deal with bad-mouthing from public officials and efforts to eliminate hard-earned job protections.
And the damage is evident. The report also shows that more public schools are having trouble finding teachers in high-demand fields like math, science and special education.
During the most recent election cycle, N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis and the Republican-led General Assembly were able to legitimately claim that they had given raises to the state’s teachers. But many were cynical of the raises coming during an election year; they felt like they didn’t make up for the years of negligence and didn’t go to enough teachers.
Legislators also legitimately claimed that, in raw numbers, they increased the state education budget after the Democrats had for many years come up short on education funding – but that was following many years of budget cuts because of the financial collapse of 2008. The budget has never risen to its pre-recession level – even without taking inflation into account. In the meantime, the student population has grown.
Teachers have been getting a raw deal from the state.
North Carolina once had a reputation as a state that valued education, which leads to secure futures and increased financial opportunities for all of our citizens. The lucrative jobs of the future will go to the educated. Companies will move into states that have educated populations. But that requires good teachers.
Teaching is a calling, but it’s also a job. Teachers usually have families to support; they live and participate in their communities. They’re talented and intelligent and respected by those who know them. It’s wrong to relegate them to subsistence wages.
Superior educators will follow – and will earn - the superior financial incentives.
We can’t settle for a mediocre teaching force in North Carolina. The way to recruit the best teachers is to give them the best deal. Our legislature has talked a good game; it’s time for it to follow through.
November 10, 2014 at 8:41 am
Norm Kelly says:
Libs, unions, demoncrat pols, most media outlets including N&D in Raleigh, are all allies. What does this mean? When you belong to the teachers union and both the union and your allies in the media TELL you that the party in power does NOT respect or appreciate you, that they are telling lies to you, then you believe your ally. Usually. Too often.
How about there be a comparison done of teacher turnover when the Demoncrat party was in charge of Raleigh and ACTUALLY CUT education spending, say over a 10 to 15 year period of time. How about we stop concentrating on only since Republicans took over control of Raleigh. Also, is there a way to determine how many of the teachers leaving the state to go elsewhere are leaving because they are following a spouse. With unemployment numbers the way they are, with people being somewhat forced to take whatever job they have to, how many of the teachers leave the state because they know they can get a job wherever they go so they MUST follow the spouse with their job? Does this number exist? If it does, would it shoot holes in the demon talking points memo? You know, the one their allies in the media like to reference on a regular basis.
Can we EVER expect truth, facts, real information from media types? When the libs controlled Raleigh, they ACTUALLY cut state education spending. And the 'education lottery' did NOT make up the difference. Since Republicans have taken over Raleigh, the budget for state education spending has ACTUALLY GONE UP. This is a fact, not hyperbole. Has the increased budget been enough to compensate for the cuts put in place by the demons? No. Not yet. Has the increase been sufficient to keep up with population growth? No. But then the Republicans have to overcome the cuts implemented by the demoncrat party before they can spend enough to keep up with population growth.
Does it make sense to compare teacher pay in NC with teacher pay where our teachers are moving to? Of course it does. If ANY teacher leaves NC to take a job in say Illinois or NY, it can be safely assumed they will get a pay raise. Possibly a substantial pay raise. But how does this compare to anything else in their new living environment? Is the cost of living in the new area higher or lower than here in NC? If taking a 12% pay increase results in a 2% decrease in spendable income, is the teacher better off? Nope. But because it works for their whine, unions and media type allies of the teachers will ONLY compare income, not cost of living. Is it cheaper or more expensive to live in Illinois or NY? How much of a pay raise does one need to get in order to break even? How much of a pay raise does one need to get in order to have more take home, disposable income? Does any media ally report on this? Nope. Cuz it doesn't fit their whine. It might help teachers understand how the overall economy in the area affects their bottom line.
Perhaps some truth? In the media? Not likely. It will be glossed over. 'years of negligence'. This is how this 'news' paper describes what's happened to teacher pay. 'YEARS'. Which years are we talking about here? The YEARS when demons controlled Raleigh. Kinda like the 'decades' that the coal ash ponds have been knowingly leaking yet it's McCrory who has coal ash on his hands? That kind of 'years'?
'The budget has never risen to its pre-recession level'. Like I said, the budget was drastically cut by the demons. It's hard for the Republicans to overcome such steep cuts. If the demons were, God forbid, still in charge of Raleigh, how EXACTLY would they overcome the draconian cuts implemented by prior Demon administrations? What EXACTLY is the plan of the demons and their allies to make up for the huge cuts implemented in prior years of neglect? Like most other items the demons and their allies WHINE about, notice they have NO PLAN! If they had a plan, don't you think we'd hear about it? Libs love to tell us how they would solve the problems in the economy, in the job market, in labor relations, creating jobs (cuz we all know that businesses do not create jobs. just ask billary!), providing medical coverage, and reducing smoking among teenagers. If they had even a hint of a plan on how to FIX the education budget (and system as a whole!), don't you think we would have heard SOMETHING about their plan in the recent election cycle? Of course we would have heard; the N&D would have printed untold numbers of editorials on what a great plan their allies came up with to resolve the issues created by the Republicans. Media outlets across the state would have been champions of WHATEVER plan demons came up with. That's the way allies are supposed to support each other; and always do. This time around, the only thing this group can do is WHINE! No PLAN! Just be the party of NO! NO to every plan the Republicans come up with. NO to every story that demonstrates how the demons are the CAUSE of so much wrong with the state. Like the coal ash issue. Like an out-of-control state budget that paid for things like the tea cup museum.
November 10, 2014 at 9:11 am
Richard Bunce says:
Traditional government systems provide a service and it's employees, the government education bureaucrats, administrators, teachers should be judged on their performance of their assigned task, educating the participating parent's children. On that measure the system is failing. Give the parents the resources to select the best education for their children and let the market, including parents, employers, post secondary educators, decide the value of all educators including teachers.
November 13, 2014 at 2:03 pm
Curt Budd says:
There have been comparisons done about teacher turnover. This recent cycle is the highest EVER. I voted Republican in the last Presidential election, so quit shouting about this is just a Democrats crying issue. I am a teacher on the front lines every day and have been for 17 years. The policies put in place by THIS legislature are the ones that have teacher morale the lowest it has ever been. I see first hand, my class sizes increasing, no textbooks available, no money for updating technology, cuts to teacher assistants, etc.
So, no sir, this is not a liberal vs conservative issue, this is a no respect for teachers or public education issue. And the fact that you are not alarmed that quality teachers are leaving the state and the profession in record numbers and the effects of that on the future of our state speaks volumes and makes my point.
