Posted on 10/26/2015 10:48:25 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Many newspaper stories, including a recent one in the Detroit Free Press, have repeated a tale about demoralized Michigan teachers who are blamed for everything. The demoralized state of Michigan's teaching workforce, it is said, could lead to a teacher shortage because young people don’t want to enter the field.
Yet the number of people already certified to teach in this state tells a different story, as does the fact that the number increases every year, thanks to a continued influx of new teachers.
According to the Michigan Department of Education, around 129,682 individuals have obtained the state teaching certificate that makes them eligible to work in public school classrooms. That’s some 17,000 more than are currently teaching in Michigan. Another 7,000 to 10,000 people get new certificates every year, adding to the ranks of potential teachers.
There are 112,144 certified teachers working in the public K-12 schools in Michigan. The state doesn’t track how many certified teachers are employed in private schools.
While there seems to be an ample supply of certified teachers, employment opportunities in public schools have been in decline for 12 years, in part because school enrollment has fallen.
In the 2007-2008 school year, there were 1,645,742 students in Michigan public schools and the equivalent of 107,537 full-time teachers. That came to 15.3 students for every teacher.
In the 2014-15 school year, the number of students had fallen to 1,550,802, for whom there were 97,288 teachers, or 10,249 fewer than seven years ago. But student-teacher ratio had risen to 15.9. Even though there were around 5 percent fewer students, there were 10 percent fewer full-time teachers.
“There’s not evidence to claim Michigan has a widespread teacher shortage,” said Michael Van Beek, research director for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “People who make this claim typically use it as an argument for paying teachers more across the board. But the data suggest that there are more than enough people who think the compensation package districts offer new teachers is a pretty good deal.”
Evidence from around the state suggests no shortage of applicants for full-time teaching positions. Michigan Capitol Confidential checked with five school districts that have posted a “teacher wanted” notice. The five openings drew 99 applicants, as follows:
Potterville Public Schools in Eaton County had two applicants for a middle school/high school art teacher and filled the slot within two and a half weeks. Charlotte Public Schools in Eaton County had nine applicants for a special-education teacher position within eight days of its posting. Novi Community School District in Oakland County filled a preschool teacher opening that had 20 applicants. Ann Arbor Public Schools saw 23 apply for a physics position in its high school international education program and filled the opening. Athens Area Schools in Calhoun County saw 45 apply for a now-filled secondary school social studies teacher position.
Some openings may be easier than others to fill. Athens Area Schools Superintendent Joe Huepenbecker said it’s hard to find qualified applicants for secondary math and science teaching positions.
But union-negotiated pay scales that base compensation levels strictly on a teacher’s seniority and academic credentials inhibit schools’ ability to use higher salaries to attract candidates for in-demand positions. One result is that across the state there are elementary school gym teachers getting higher pay than advanced placement high school science teachers.
How long before there is a ‘gay quota’ for teachers, like there is for military personnel now?
I think there is some to it. The Boomers are working much longer then their parents did. At the Naval Academy, we have what is called the geriatric ward with so many retirement eligible staff hanging on. One day the Boomers will realize they aren’t 20 any more and will begin to retire. It’s just a matter of time. The generation of drugs and rock and roll will find out they are old whether they like it or not.
What a coincidence! We have the same problem in most Pennsylvania districts.
You don't suppose it could have anything to do with stupid union rules which bases their pay scale solely on concepts like years of teaching and degree credentials and not nasty capitalistic things such as supply and demand?
Nah, couldn't be. We all know such concepts are GOP economics which doesn't work. Emperor BO told us so.
NEA was pimping this meme, along with the “Where are the black male teachers?” in their latest mag distributed to Union Members.
They were using it to try and justify massive teacher pay increases.
The real answers are plain to see, of course.
Uh, do you think maybe it could be because those ‘geriatric ward’ people (probably people my own age, 57 or younger) are working because they HAVE to, not because they WANT to? And that is to pay for all the freebies that the establishment has decreed for those they want to buy votes from? We know we are old; the younger generation never lets us forget it for a second!
The ‘teacher shortage’ story is fairly ubiquitous. The teacher associations feed this story to local news outlets throughout the land, and it gets repeated without any fact checking.
Sometimes they spice it up and do it right before the school year starts, and imply that little Johnny is going to be in a classroom with 80 other kids.
I’d bet that any objective study of class sizes would show an overall drop in the last 40 years - and btw no correlating improvement in student capabilities.
There is always a “teacher shortage” in urban districts, teachers standing in line for teaching jobs in good suburban schools.
My DIL left urban Dallas schools for stability in a suburban district. Now commute is 15 minutes vs an hour, pay is better, teaching environment is much better. Where she left, they have to replace the teacher in her room every year as teachers won’t stay in that environment.,
Maybe you meant 57 or OLDER continue to work.
A good reason for continuing to work is that nobody retiring into such conditions as we have now has ever self-funded retirement successfully.
There is more age discrimination now against older workers than ever before. When the boomers lose the dominance of the vote their benefits will be cut. Mark it down. These children, especially Gen X, are mostly heartless. I’ve seen them in action.
Yes I meant OLDER, sorry...and yes, you are right that the children have a real surprise in store for us, having been propagandized for years that we baby boomers are the cause of all their troubles. It ain’t gonna be pretty my FRiend.
I don’t know but that excuse will expire one day and then the rest of us will be able to advance. It will be a nice time for all including Boomers who will retire.
Our local school district which has less than 20,000 students has spent more than a billion dollars on capitol improvements in the past ten years alone. The district employs 2629 employees not including people working for the school bus company. Of these employees approximately 80 make over $100,000 a year plus benefits. 500 make more than $80,000 a year not including their benefits, so each of these employees still cost the district more than $100,000 a year. 900 make over $70,000 a year plus benefits. 1300 make over $60,000 a year plus benefits. 1600 make over $50,000 a year plus benefits. The majority of employees making less than $50,000 a year are substitutes, aides, cooks, janitors, etc. and most are not full time.
The per capita income in our community is approximately $26,000 per year and the average household income is approximately $50,000 per year. Employees of the school district, even those who are not teachers are among the best paid people in the community.
The district now spends in inflation adjusted dollars nearly 3 times the amount per student that they did when my wife and I graduated approximately 35 years ago. Students are now performing far worse on standardized tests although a far higher percentage are now going onto state subsidized community colleges and universities. Many if not the majority who earn degrees from these institutions of higher learning are no better educated than those of us who graduated with just a high school diploma 35 years ago.
Something has gone drastically wrong with our public school system. The blame rests squarely at the feet of the teachers unions. It is long past time to transition to a system where private enterprise takes over the responsibility for public education. WE cannot trust the government with it anymore.
I hope you are correct but alas, I fear that the worm has turned in America enough now for the communists to complete their takeover/destruction of all that we once held dear. God protect us.
Personal experience.
Unless hiring policy has changed in recent years, there are far too many civilian professors at USNA.
We know what's really important. < / sarcasm >
Yeah? NYC is throwing out veteran science teachers as fast as they can, hiring fresh-out-of-college newbies for half the price. The teaching conditions have become onerous, with much of one's day wasted by test prep for Commie Core crap. The students were handed the keys to the kingdom by Bloombutt, feeling absolutely free to curse out their teachers, assault their teachers, threaten their teachers, write false statements against their teachers, etc. with absolutely NO fear of consequences. The paperwork required rises by the hour and has nothing to do with student outcomes. What sane person would put up with this?
WTF are you talking about?
There is just so much darn money involved in professional football.
The OWNERS are an elite class themselves, as are all the owners of professional sports teams.
Plus, it is pretty cool that the high schools and colleges develop their talent at no cost to the NFL. Major league baseball at least pays the kids on their farm teams a partly $1500 per month or so.
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