Where is North Carolina losing teachers? – By Alex Granados and Dean Drescher, EdNC.org
The State of the Teaching Profession report presented to the State Board of Education in March suggested that fears about a mass resignation of teachers due to COVID-19 may have been overblown. The catch was that the report only covered last school year and many educators suspect next year’s report will say something different.
And, while the number of teachers leaving the profession may have only ticked up a little — from 7.53% in 2019-20 to 8.20% in 2020-21 — the number of teaching positions open (vacancies) in districts ballooned from 1,646 to 3,216.
The state Department of Public Instruction (DPI) District Human Capital Director Tom Tomberlin said in an email shortly after the State Board meeting that without further data it is impossible to say what was happening with vacancies in 2020-21.
“We don’t have the data to know if the current vacancy rates indicate a higher percentage of the total number of positions in the state,” he said in an emailed statement. “It is possible that LEAs are hiring more teachers with ESSER funds and the increased positions are raising vacancy rates.”
4-day school week picks up steam in rural Texas districts – By Anna Merod, K-12 Dive
A small number of mostly rural districts in southern Texas are switching to four-day school weeks beginning in the 2022-23 school year to primarily help retain teachers and students.
In mid-March, the Jasper Independent School District in Texas made headlines after announcing on Facebook that its Board of Trustees unanimously decided to switch to a four-day model for the 2022-23 school year. District Superintendent John Seybold told Good Morning America that teacher burnout and difficulty recruiting teachers motivated the shift.
Tim Bartrm, superintendent of Hull-Daisetta Independent School District in Texas, said the growing movement of the four-day school week will now be implemented in his district starting next school year, too. Hull-Daisetta ISD’s board voted to make the change in March, following suit after three other surrounding districts did the same, Bartram said.
Although districts can save money on bus fuel and utilities by switching to a four-day week, Bartram said he was purely motivated to make the change for the retention of students and staff. If Hull-Daisetta had decided to keep the traditional five-day school week instead, Bartram said there would have likely been a noticeable loss of both students and staff to the surrounding districts.
Tennessee governor’s education funding plan lands major endorsement – By Marta Aldrich, Chalkbeat
A statewide alliance of more than 40 civil rights, social justice, and education advocacy groups on Monday announced their support for Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to revamp how Tennessee funds public education.
The Tennessee Alliance for Equity in Education called Lee’s formula, which provides more funding for students with higher needs, a “marked improvement” over the state’s current approach and “an important step forward in advancing equity and centering student needs” in K-12 funding.
More than half of the alliance’s 72 partner organizations signed the endorsement, ranging from the NAACP and the Tennessee Disability Coalition to the Memphis Education Fund, Stand for Children, and the Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance.
Their collective support comes as state lawmakers enter the homestretch of their 2022 legislative session and ahead of this week’s key committee votes on Lee’s plan, called Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, or TISA. If the legislature approves the rewrite, Tennessee will join 38 states and the District of Columbia in having some type of student-based funding model.
State board OKs measures to ease special ed teacher shortage – By Sue Laughlin, Tribune Star
The Indiana State Board of Education this week approved initiatives aimed at increasing Indiana’s pipeline of special education teachers and addressing a serious shortage in the field.
Of Indiana's 1.1 million students, almost 16% receive special education services, according to an Indiana Department of Education news release.
According to Katie Jenner, Indiana secretary of education, “Through a new license option, approval of additional transition to teaching programs and financial assistance to support training for our current and future special education teachers, we’re committed to supporting our local schools as we seek to grow the pipeline of educators in this high-demand field."
The number of working special education teachers in Indiana declined around 4% from 2014 to 2021, while the number of students in special education grew 12%, according to a Chalkbeat Indiana report, citing IDOE data.
