Introduction

When I returned to in-person education for the second half of my senior year of high school, I was really excited; I saw all of my friends everyday, connected better with my teachers and coursework, and I finally had a reason to change out of my pajamas. And for the most part, my teachers felt the same- on the first day back, every single one mentioned how nice it felt to see kids walking through the halls again. During the last week of school, my friends and I went to visit some of our old middle school teachers, where we heard a very different narrative. Due to the kids being younger, there were significantly more rules and regulations that teachers needed to both follow and enforce in terms of masking and social distancing. Additionally, navigating the virtual environment added another layer of stress onto an already difficult job. Although our old teachers were for the most part happy about things “returning to normal”, they all reported feeling burnt out and demoralized after a rough year. My sixth grade math teacher even said that he was considering leaving education because of how stressful COVID instruction was. After doing some digging, I quickly realized that this was not a problem unique to my school district, but rather a long-term national trend exacerbated by the pandemic.

Pre-COVID

The first signs of trouble started to appear over a decade ago, when studies revealed that the number of new teaching certificates distributed each year had dropped significantly. For example, in response to a 56% drop in new teachers since 1996, Governor Tom Wolf announced $2 million in funding to eight colleges and universities across PA to develop their education residency programs. The graphic below from RealClearPublicAffairs illustrates the drop in new certified teachers from 2011 and 2017 alone:

According to a New York Times report, there are a plethora of reasons for this decline in new educators, ranging from growing class sizes, hostile parents, and a general lack of public respect for teachers. However, a major contributor are the low starting salaries. According to a report done by the Center for American Progress, the average starting salary for teachers is $38,617, while the average salary for all teachers is about $60,000. This means that when compared to similarly-educated professionals, teachers earn 20% less. However, as the graphic below shows, there are significant disparities state-to-state. Teachers in New York, for example, earn an average of over $80,000 a year, while teachers in West Virginia earn half of that.

Due to the grievances outlined above, tens of thousands of teachers across the nation went on strike in 2018-2019, demanding higher pay, better working conditions, and better benefits (such as healthcare and time off). An image of the protests from Oklahoma City is shown below. Ultimately, the protests led to an average wage hike of $6,000 per year. However, even after the renegotiated contracts, many teachers across the nation remained unsatisfied due to legislators not following through on their promise.

Post-COVID

As with many things in America, COVID-19 further complicated a pressing issue. With educators being placed under higher stress during the pandemic due to having to take on more responsibilities, many started reconsidering their career choice. According to the Brookings Institute, almost half of all teachers considered retiring during the 2020-21 school year, with 50% of those teachers naming COVID-19 as the primary cause of doubt. It is important to note that early data does not suggest that the pandemic has increased attrition rates (so far). However, with teachers being forced to isolate due to COVID exposure in classrooms, there is now a severe national shortage of substitute teachers. In one Central Florida school district, almost 10% of all teachers are currently out due to either COVID or contact tracing, and only 50% of all substitute requests can be filled. The shortage has led many states, such as Oregon, Kansas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to temporarily lower the requirements for being a substitute teacher simply so that students have someone to supervise them.

Ultimately, the teaching shortage in America is a consequence of decades of neglect on the part of lawmakers and the general public. Due to declining relative wages and increased work stress, less and less people have been going into the field of public education. The unique challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic only worsened these problems, placing American public education in further jeopardy.