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As students head back to the classroom after summer break, many schools are still short of staff members, including teachers. Some districts are looking for superintendents and principals, even as the school year has already started.
These education shortages are going to get worse in coming years, according to a new report from Educate Maine released last week.
The average age of Maine’s teachers is 46, and about half the 14,000-person K-12 public school teaching force in the state is reaching retirement age. A shrinking number of young people are training to be teachers, which will leave a growing gap as teachers retire.
Low pay and an increasing propensity to question, and in some cases even threaten, educators have made working in our nation’s schools less attractive. That’s a big problem when our children spend significant portions of their day in school.
Improving working conditions for educators requires changes from policymakers, especially to boost pay. But, it also requires changes from parents and community members to ensure teachers feel empowered to teach and aren’t second guessed to the point of choosing another career.
“The looming teacher shortage in Maine is no longer looming. It is here right now, and it is a clear and present danger in our view,” Kate Carlisle, a spokesperson for Educate Maine, told the BDN last week.
Each April, the state Department of Education releases an annual list of areas that are understaffed, and the number has grown from 12 last year to 17 this year. Some of the new areas are music, computer technology, accelerated learning, social studies in the middle and secondary levels, and programs for hearing impaired students. In both years, other areas with staff shortages have included early childhood and special education, various types of science classes, and visual arts.
The annual teacher shortage list is utilized by the state education department to determine where emergency certification reciprocity from other states is needed to help fill vacancies. These shortage areas are also considered by the U.S. Department of Education for the purposes of deferment of loan repayments, in hopes of attracting new people to teaching.
Salaries are clearly part of the problem. The minimum starting salary for a full-time teacher in Maine is $40,000, with Maine ranking last in New England for average teacher salaries.
This salary falls short of a living wage, according to the MIT living wage calculator. The living wage — the amount of money someone should earn to cover their living expenses — for one person in Maine this year was nearly $46,000 a year.
Teachers are paid less than others in occupations requiring similar education, according to the Educate Maine report. The Economic Policy Institute found that Maine teachers made 24 percent less than comparable workers statewide in 2021, the 16th highest pay penalty in the nation.
State lawmakers have raised teaching salaries in recent years, but legislation to further increase teacher salaries stalled in Augusta this year.
While raising pay is essential, educators also need to be treated with more respect. Educators are being second-guessed for supporting children, for teaching a full accounting of America’s not always proud history, and for assigning books that broaden perspectives.
Some of this questioning has even turned into hostility.
It should be no surprise that too few Mainers want to work in such an atmosphere for less pay than they can make in other jobs.
So rather than denigrating teachers, we should be better supporting them. And then more Mainers might consider joining their ranks.