|
The Missouri State Board of Education signaled its interest in addressing teacher recruitment and retention this week. At the board's monthly meeting, the Legislative Priorities Subcommittee announced the creation of a blue-ribbon commission charged with producing a report that outlines action steps, legislative and policy changes, and other strategies to deal with the teacher shortage problem in the state.
Read the commission's goals.
The board named Aligned member-at-large Maxine Clark as one of the ten business leaders appointed to the commission. See the others here.
"This is important work, as high-quality teachers are vital to ensuring our students grow into the next generation of Missouri's workforce," said Board President Charlie Shields. "We are thrilled to have so many Commission members who realize their future employees will be directly impacted by this work and are eager to collaborate and problem-solve on behalf of public education in Missouri."
During the regular meeting, Dr. Kelvin Adams told board members that filling vacancies in St. Louis Public Schools remains a constant challenge, especially in special education, math, and sciences. In the 2019-20 school year, SLPS reported 47 teaching vacancies. That figure grew to 117 vacancies for the 2021-22 school year, which means the district could not fill roughly ten percent of open positions on September 1st, 2021.
Aligned has made teacher recruitment and retention a policy priority for the 2022 legislative session. Several of our proposals are in HB 1770 (Lewis), a bill making its way through the committee process. This legislation makes it easier for prospective teachers to become certified, provides flexibility in pay, and funds a teacher incentive model.
Last week, Columbia, Missouri, residents elected two teacher union-endorsed candidates to the local school board, Suzette Waters and Blake Willoughby. Both candidates told Roger McKinney from the Columbia Daily Tribune that teacher pay and retention are pressing issues. "Retention is a struggle for all school districts right now," Waters said. "We also need to look at what we can do about the work environment," Willoughby said.
According to Education Week, the school district in Hallsville, Missouri has struggled to receive even one qualified application for a speech-language pathologist position to teach English-language learners.
"It's part of a troubling trend for a school district that's just 10 miles away from the state's flagship university: Hallsville can't seem to hire enough teachers. Even open positions for elementary teachers in the district are receiving fewer applications these days, despite the fact that elementary education is typically the most popular major for aspiring teachers."
Meanwhile, in Kansas, in another article, Education Week reported that the Olathe school district, the state's second-largest, is on pace to shatter its record for the number of teachers who have asked to be released from their contracts mid-year. To date, the number has reached 44. Cathy Donovan, director of elementary human resources for the district, told Education Week reporter Elizabeth Heubeck that even five departures in a typical school year would have been high.
Aligned will continue to vigorously push for the passage of our priorities to address teacher shortages this session and continue to study the issue moving forward.
| 
