Growing Teacher Shortage

Kavan Peterson writes about the growing national teacher shortage on Stateling.org.

Increases in college tuition and new pressures to up student test scores have made low-paying teaching jobs less appealing, education advocates say. And because today's college graduates and new teachers typically change careers every five to seven years, turnover for teachers is at a record high.

The shortage is particularly a problem in the south where many districts are under funded and teacher pay is consistently below the national average.

Sun Belt states such as California, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Texas are feeling the worst crunch, Bryant said.
North Carolina, for example, has to look outside the state to fill more than half its 10,000 teaching openings every year, according to the state Department of Public Instruction. By fall 2006, Florida will need to fill 30,000 teaching positions, almost double the amount in previous years because of a spike in retirement and the demands of a 2002 constitutional amendment to reduce classroom sizes.

The disparity between high tuition costs and increasing testing demands has to be resolved. This problem will not solve itself and is poised to get worse.

The shortage is expected to get more severe because nearly one-third of all U.S. teachers are ages 55 and older, Bryant said.