Another Year Scrambling to Secure Teachers
As school starts to roll around again, schools within the Muncie Community Schools were scrambling to secure teachers. Multiple factors contribute to this problem. One factor is that teachers are not receiving an additional pay increase for staying another year in the district. Instead, teachers’ pay corresponds to their teacher evaluations. Schools also cannot afford to give teachers additional pay regardless of the reasons because of cuts in the budget and state funding. Additionally, in Indiana there is a shortage of teachers due to the fact that there are not enough young teachers entering the profession. This creates the problem of allowing veteran teachers to “shop around” to decide what teaching opportunity would work best for them. As veteran teachers move, it causes the need of more teachers. Therefore, some districts have put a hold on teachers’ resignations in order to have a teacher present for the first couple of days of school. This allows the district time to find a replacement. Districts sometimes also have to wait for new teachers to arrive if the new teachers are also on hold from their previous school. This scramble will continue to happen until something gets done.
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Abstract by Elizabeth Wood, AIR apprentice
