We know from what our members have been saying for over a year that there are some significant recruitment and retention issues in Montana's Public Schools. Not all of our members are experiencing the same degree of difficulty, but all appear to agree that recruitment and retention of high quality educators is more difficult today than it was a few short years ago.
In looking at the results of a recent survey that we administered, the problems in recruitment and retention appear to be both quantitative (i.e., the number of available, interested, qualified applicants for openings) and qualitative (i.e., the overall quality of applicant pools seems to be on the decline).
We are working with our organizational partners in the Montana Public Education Center (MASBO, MEA-MFT, MQEC, MREA, SAM) to do what we can to help address this problem. Given that the problem appears to be nationwide in scope and increasing in magnitude, we will all have to do what we can to provide a solution.
Before identifying what could help alleviate this problem, we should stand firm on what won't help: Reducing quality. Our system of public schools in Montana is unique, in that the people have adopted a specific goal in the Constitution of using our public schools to "develop the full educational potential of each person." That is a tall order, and does not leave much if any room for cutting corners. The people have also adopted another provision vesting the Montana Board of Public Education with the authority to generally supervise public education in Montana, and the Board has adopted enforceable standards for educator licensure that are beyond the Legislature's control and independent of any legislative waiver that might be granted.
Our public schools have yielded some pretty impressive numbers on student achievement over the years, typically ranking in the top 5-10 nationally and comparing favorably in international comparisons as well. Highly qualified educators played no small role in this success, so it makes sense to avoid the mad rush of some other states to "solve" this problem by reducing quality.
What will likely yield improvements in our public schools' success in recruiting and retaining highly qualified educators is a combination of improved compensation, and an improved/restored level of respect for the profession. Add in the existing passion that so many educators have for what they do and we should be able to reach the resulting career satisfaction that is such an important element to recruitment and retention in any profession.
On the issue of pay, we have some real challenges. Wyoming took bold steps some time ago that place them near the top of the nation in teacher pay, making that state a natural draw for teachers looking for a location to raise their own families that is comparable to communities in Montana. And although the differences between living in Billings or Glendive vs. Cheyenne Wyoming; or Bozeman/Big Sky vs. Jackson Hole, or Sheridan Wyoming vs. Sheridan Montana may seem profound to us, they don't make much difference to a highly qualified teacher from California looking for a higher quality life away from the traffic jams and increased crime of urban areas in southern California. The pay gap between what you can make in Montana vs. Wyoming is profound and is something we need to try to address. And it is not just Wyoming. Other surrounding states like North Dakota and now South Dakota have or are contemplating taking steps to improve educator pay and Idaho and Washington have long been paying, for the most part, above what our schools can afford. And we also have to contemplate what other professions are paying and how that affects career choices among those considering teaching. With unemployment down to 5% nationally, its lowest level since the Great Recession began in 2008, it is a buyers' market for university students contemplating career choices. Why consider a career in teaching with a national average starting salary of $36,000 when you have a range of other choices where starting salaries for a bachelor's prepared graduate are $50,000 or above?
I am not suggesting that the issue of teacher pay is "easy" to solve, just that the issue must be addressed. Imagine what an average increase of $10,000 per year could do for recruitment and retention in our public schools. The only problem, and it is a big one, is where to find the $144 million per year it would take to make that adjustment!
Respect Accorded the Profession of Education: The issue of respect for the profession is a bit more nebulous but is very much worth trying to address. When we start out at a disadvantage in terms of pay, we can ill-afford the increasing attacks on the profession implicit in various federal and state legislative proposals that seem to say, in essence, that teachers are the problem, rather than the solution, to increased student success. We can't necessarily reverse the trend of these external attacks that seem directed toward seeking proof of the lack of an educator's worth, but we can let our educators, teachers and administrators alike, know, vocally, that we have their backs and that they have our respect for what they do for students in Montana's public schools. That can go a long way, in combination with the natural passion that educators have for their careers, in improving our success in recruiting and retaining the highly qualified staff who have accomplished so much in our public schools over the years.
So, you have my thoughts on that nature of the problem and some possible solutions. What do you think? What can we do together to make sure that each child in each public school in the state has access to highly qualified educators working together to fulfill each child's full educational potential as called for in our Constitution?