Unfortunately, that’s a solution many rural counties like ours cannot afford. New Hanover County recently doubled its local salary supplement for its teachers who are now some of the best paid in the state. College students are choosing other careers.īetter pay would go a long way to solve this teacher shortage. Experienced teachers are leaving the state and profession. North Carolina’s average teacher salary is $10,000 below the national average. Politicians are not treating or paying teachers as professionals. For the last decade, North Carolina’s state lawmakers have passed state budgets that underfund public education and undermine teachers. How did we get here? It’s deeper than COVID. We are letting our students down during their formative years. Students are less likely to master math with a teacher who is learning as they go. Students are less likely to learn to read with a substitute teacher who’s not familiar with the best ways to teach reading.
Many school districts are offering new teacher signing bonuses funded with federal COVID relief dollars, but the teacher shortage persists.īehind these numbers is real harm to our children. For the 2021-22 school year, the federal government says North Carolina has a shortage of qualified teachers in all grades of math and special education and all core subjects in all elementary school grades. Department of Education tracks Teacher Shortage Areas across states. “The teacher shortage is real, large and growing, and worse than we thought,” said a Robeson County assistant superintendent. Math teachers in Robeson County are covering classes in person in one school and then jumping onto Zoom meetings to teach math remotely to students in other schools. Only 30% of North Carolina students have a fully licensed math teacher. Teaching vacancies on the first day of school were three times higher in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools than two years ago. Scroll through the school district websites, and you will see over a thousand vacant teaching positions even as the school year has already started. The teacher shortage is worse in some counties, but it’s felt across the state. North Carolina has zero education requirements to work as a substitute teacher. Because of a widespread teacher shortage schools are filling classrooms with substitutes, teaching assistants, and unlicensed instructors. Many North Carolina students are going back to school to find classrooms without qualified teachers. It’s not funny at all to educators like us. So between phone calls and scheduling appointments, I’m here to clean your teeth.” It sounds like a Three Stooges skit, but something similar is happening in our public schools. If you sat down in the dentist chair, you would think it crazy if the receptionist barged in to say, “Good morning, we’re still trying to hire a hygienist.
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