Linda Lyon, for president of the Arizona School Boards Association, writes here about the deepening teacher shortage in her state.
Instead of acting forcefully to improve the working conditions for teachers, the legislature is stuck on devising ways to expand its voucher program. That’s why the Koch brothers elected Governor Ducey, and they expect him to deliver.
She writes:
Anyone wondering where we stand with Arizona’s teacher shortage? After all, last year was probably the most significant year ever for Arizona public school teachers. Some 75,000 of them marched on the state Capitol demanding better pay for themselves and support staff, lower class sizes and more. The result was an additional 9% salary increase added to the 1% Governor Ducey had originally offered for the year. Surely this must have helped us retain quality teachers, right?
Well, not so fast. As the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association (ASPAA) learned in their annual statewide survey of districts, we are a long way from “out of the woods” and aren’t even headed in the right direction.
The 211 districts and charters that responded last year reported that 7,453 teacher openings needed to be filled during the school year. As of December 12, 2018, there were still 1,693 vacancies and 3,908 individuals not meeting standard teacher requirements, for a total of 75% of teacher positions vacant or filled by less than fully qualified people.
On top of that, 913 teachers had either abandoned or resigned from their teacher position within the first half of the school year without a candidate pool to replace them. To make matters worse, 76% of these teachers held a standard teacher certificate.
These are alarming statistics, made all the more so considering the strides made in 2018, and the worse status since the 2017–18 report. It showed that as of December 8, 2017, 62.5% of teacher positions were vacant or not meeting standard teacher requirements and 866 teachers had abandoned or resigned within first half of the year, over 80% of whom held a standard teacher certificate.
The salary increase didn’t solve the problem, partly because salary and benefits still aren’t competitive, but also because teacher working conditions (such as high class sizes and the dramatic increase of children dealing with trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences) make it really tough to do the job right. And, oh by the way, allowing our districts to hire uncertified teachers hasn’t done anything to make our teachers feel valued as professionals. As the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Kathy Hoffman, told the state House Education Committee yesterday, our teacher shortage is a crisis. To make matters worse, 25% of Arizona teachers are eligible to retire in the next two years.
The geniuses in the legislature thought that lowering teacher qualification standards would attract more teachers. It didn’t.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This a tragedy for Arizona. Nobody should re-elect the legislators who think that some combo of a pay raise and lowering of professional qualifications for teaching will solve this problem.
Who’d have thought that 20+ years of blatant disrespect would make teachers want to quit and discourage kids from majoring in education?
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
Florida is also facing a severe teacher shortage. DeSantis’ plan to retain teachers is merit pay based on a value add formula. “Highly effective” teachers can get up to $9,000 extra dollars in pay. This is a lousy plan that will most likely penalize those teachers that work with students with low standardized test scores. DeSantis has been praised by parents and students because he vowed to get rid of the Common Core. I remain skeptical that this move will make much difference as the test will likely be replaced by another one equally as unfair and biased. https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2019/02/08/desantis-wants-new-teacher-bonus-program-replace-best-and-brightest/2805486002/
Arizona is a state in name only. Arizona is now a state in the Kleptocracy of Koch.
“The geniuses in the legislature thought that lowering teacher qualification standards would attract more teachers.”
Indiana also has merit pay and allows under qualified people to teach. Unlicensed teachers are allowed to make up 10% of their staff.
There are geniuses in most state capitals. That is why there is a severe teacher shortage.