The teacher shortage is still ongoing and rising in America, and with education being a controversial topic, the future of soon-to-be educators doesn’t seem promising.
A survey of 1,300 k-12 schools across the nation showed that 86% of public schools are struggling to hire new teachers, and high-poverty districts still report vast understaffing, but they have declined from 53% to 45% in the last year. Additionally, about 35% of teachers are ‘fairly likely’ to leave in the next 2 years. Many argue due to regulations on what a teacher can and cannot teach and whether their pay is worth the struggle.
A leading cause of the struggle to find new teachers is that 62% do not want their kids to become teachers. A survey revealed that 6 in 10 teachers don’t want their children to become teachers themselves. The top reasons were “inadequate pay” and “benefits.” The hiring gap began more in 2017, and openings for the job started to outpace hires in that year but became dramatic in 2020 and on the rise since. 2022 has been the worst since and reported .55 hires for each teacher opening.
Within the past 28 years, teachers’ weekly salaries have only gone up $29. Inflation has affected many jobs, but it has dramatically hit teaching. Salaries have been almost flat since 1996, meaning they have barely been adjusted for inflation. From 1996 to 2021, the average weekly wage increased by just $29. Teachers’ average weekly salary increased by $445 compared to other college graduates.
There are many more factors to this issue, but if this goes on for too much longer, America may be looking at a dramatic crisis on its hands.
