As students return to classrooms, school districts across the country are facing historic number of teacher vacancies – estimated 300,000According to the National Education Association (NEA), the largest teacher union in the United States,

Some states have been particularly hard hit, with about 2,000 Illinois and Arizona, 3,000 Nevada and 9,000 in Florida.

How are political leaders responding? Many rural areas of Texas 4 days school schedule, causes a great deal of trouble for working parents.The new Arizona law You no longer need a bachelor’s degree For full-time teachers.Florida is veterans permit Teach temporarily without prior qualification.Broward County in Florida 100 teachers from the philippines.

These stopgap measures ignore the root causes of the teacher crisis: low pay and burnout.

a New Economic Policy Institute Report teachers will earn 23.5% less than comparable college graduates in 2021. This is the widest gap to date, despite the extraordinary challenges teachers have faced during the pandemic. In some of the states with the worst teacher shortages, the gap is widening. In Arizona, for example, teachers in the state earned 32% less than non-teacher college graduates last year. Across the country, a public school teacher’s real wage has remained roughly the same since his 1996.

When the NEA surveyed teachers earlier this year, 55 percent reported that he plans to leave the pros ahead of schedule. The numbers are even higher among Black (62%) and Hispanic/Latino (59%) educators, who are already underrepresented in the teaching profession. In the same survey, 91% of her teachers cited burnout as their top concern, and 96% supported raising educator salaries as a means to combat burnout.

Some states are getting the message. In New Mexico, legislators have set a minimum salary tier for teachers based on experience, starting at $50,000 and maintaining an average wage of $64,000. We are also aiming to systematize 100% pay raises.

“These pay increases are the difference between using Medicaid with a family, having to work a side job or tutoring, driving the bus during the day, and taking extra routes for extracurricular activities. It represents the difference between what you have to take, just to get what you want,” New Mexico teacher John Dilts said in a recent interview. a more perfect bond. “With this increased compensation flowing to workers, it brings dignity to the people. It shows that their work is respected.”

In other areas, teachers are using their collective bargaining power to listen to demands.Thousands of teachers in Ohio, Washington, Pennsylvania and Washington DC attack the first few weeks of the school year.

The Educators Union of Columbus, Ohio, is a simple, public “Commitment to modern school“: Not just a raise, but small classes, decent air conditioning, adequate funding for the arts and physical education, and a cap on the number of consecutive teaching periods. Ask how long to wait to pee!

Meeting such demand requires public investment. And unfortunately, too many legislators are in favor of securing the coffers of the wealthy instead of funding our school system.

In 2021, columbus dispatch Estimate City schools lost $51 million to local real estate developers. In New York, his cut of more than $200 million in school budgets has sparked public outcry in a city pocketed by luxury builders. Well over $1 billion in tax credits annually.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander Said The city council cuts were especially baffling given that the city boasts the remaining $4.4 billion in federal stimulus it has to spend by 2025. “Cutting individual school budgets at this time would be wrong for students and teachers, and would stymie the equitable recovery the city needs. “ Lander said.

On Thursday, the Columbus teachers’ union “concept agreement” Together with the city schools, we ended the strike. Let’s hope this is a sign of a turning point. Through a relentless pandemic, Vicious Censorship of Curriculumand with soaring inequality, we cannot continue to waste education while wasting resources on the wealthy.