Thursday January 14, 2010
Dale Lee: W.Va. needs benefits, higher salaries to keep teachers
Older teachers near retirement, and younger ones can go elsewhere
A recent column in the Daily Mail discussed the lack of fully certified teachers in the classroom and tied it to low pay. I heartily agree with that.
We lose many teachers, both young and experienced, to our contiguous states and other professions because of our low salaries. I also believe salary and respect play a huge role in college students selecting other career paths instead of teaching.
I do, however, take exception to the statement that "odds are pretty good that a student who took chemistry, math, foreign language, or even language arts in a West Virginia public high school last year did not have a teacher who was specifically trained to teach the class."
The facts simply do not support the statement. In the 2008-2009 school year, 93 percent of all West Virginia teachers in public schools were highly qualified. This classification is based on No Child Left Behind standards that dictate the teacher must be certified in the subject they teach.
In actuality, the odds are that a student in the state's public schools does have a well-trained, highly qualified teacher in the classroom.
West Virginia has worked hard to ensure each classroom is staffed with a highly qualified educator. The credentials and degree level of our teaching staff is among the best in the nation.
That being said, we can do better. Every child deserves a high-quality education, and that requires a certified teacher in every classroom. Finding fully certified teachers in hard-to-staff certifications such as math, foreign language or science; and high-turnover endorsements such as special education, have always been problematic in some areas of our state.
But now, many county school systems are having difficulty replacing fully certified teachers in other certification areas as well.
That does not bode well for the future.
When you combine the large number of educators planning to retire in the next few years with the number of college graduates who want to work in West Virginia's school systems, you have the perfect storm - fully certified teachers leaving the system and not enough certified replacements to take their places.
I understand that no one wants to hear about low teacher salaries, but unless we address the issue, our education system will suffer.
The average West Virginia teacher is now paid $19,374 less than a Maryland teacher, more than $12,000 less than a Pennsylvania teacher, and nearly $10,000 less than an Ohio teacher.
Continued benefit reductions without pay raises will force energetic teachers who are highly qualified to put their degrees to use in other states or other professions. The issue will be magnified in the next few years as more and more of our highly qualified teachers retire and systems struggle to replace them.
The recent decision by the finance board of the Public Employees Insurance Agency to eliminate the retiree subsidy for those hired after July 1, 2010 will only compound the problem.
The loss of this benefit, combined with West Virginia education salaries at the bottom of the region, will result in more and more classrooms not having highly qualified teachers. This is simply unacceptable.
West Virginians can be proud of the advancements made in public education in our state in the last decade. We have a quality education system in place with classes taught by dedicated professionals.
We must be proactive as we look for ways to maintain and improve the system. Salary and respect are two critical components that must be addressed as we move forward. The future of West Virginia and our children depend on it.
Lee is president of the West Virginia Education Association.