Unprecedented teacher shortage

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/educatio ... -shortage/

Florida just allowed veterans with no teaching background to teach in the classroom. Governor Ron DeSantis said a marine with no education training can teach better than someone with an education degree. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children and rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff.

But is there really a teacher shortage? Or is there a shortage of adequate pay and respect from parents, students and the administration?

I can't speak to the rest of the country, but my brother is a teacher here in Washington and his salary is around $80K, he's only been teaching about 3 years. Yes, public school, and not in a rich district either.

There's a shortage in my district and I believe in my state in general (though maybe not in the wealthiest few districts). Starting salary here is crap and the benefits sucks. Right now you can teach here once you have x amount of credits and the school district will allow you to continue taking classes to get your proper degree/certification. We have tons of long term substitutes right now and not actual teachers. These subs make, I believe, $100 a day and only need 90 or 100 credits in anything/doesn't matter what. No one wants to teach. Why would they? Kids do things in class like throw stuff at each other and security doesn't respond. Parents yell at teachers for 'picking' on their children (the ones who throw things in class are usually innocent angels who can do no wrong to their parents). Teachers make less money than bartenders around here. Seriously, my one ex is a teacher and has a part time job at a bar working three nights a week and makes more there than at their teaching job. Less drama at the bar as well. It's crazy to me. They're overworked, underpaid, and often have to buy their students school supplies with their own money if they want their students to have things like paper and pencils, and usually have more than 30 kids per classroom. I have no idea why anyone would want to be a teacher nowadays. It's not really worth it. It's not like you even get to teach since all your time goes to preparing kids for standardized testing. The whole thing is a colossal clusterfu**, imho.

In Australia there are so many regulations on teaching children that now you need a masters degree in early education to change a nappy in daycare, Coupled with the uncompetitive salary and there's a high attrition among teachers. There is a general feeling among teachers that they are not appreciated,

Even in universities the research academics look at those of us who are "education focused" as losers. It's no wonder there is a belief in the private sector that "those who can't teach". But by jeeves, those same ignorant snobs expect (no demand) their little darlings get the best quality education

Why not just raise the wages? I think they are way underpaid because of the BS they have to put up with and it's not easy to teach students. That is why you need a degree so you can tech students of different learning styles and be creative and know how to keep their attention. I have had bad teachers who didn't know how to control their class and keep students' attention.

Teachers tend to start off with a rather low salary-----but they get frequent raises subsequently until they get about 5 or so years experience.

The average teacher salary in my hometown is about $54,252; but the salary range typically falls between $45,370 and $66,130.  Salary ranges vary widely depending on factors like: teachers' education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years spent in the profession (e.g., seniority).

The median home cost in the same town is about $234,600 as of 2022-08-01.

The average salary for a person with a STEM degree is $87,502 ( Source ), so why be a teacher?

I do think it's silly to require a masters to teach, that certainly doesn't help on the supply side.

The amount of pay that teachers receive can be deceiving. We tend to spend a lot of money out-of-pocket on supplies for the classroom, snacks, and essential stuff for the kids. This is especially the case in impoverished school districts like mine.

My school is desperate for teachers. They are taking people with a degree in whatever and then paying for their certification and master’s. In return, the teacher is contractually obligated to work for the school district for a certain number of years.

Most new teachers here are under-qualified.