Illustration by Carson McNamara
Anna Moriah Myers is solidly mid-career. She’s been working with students with autism and dyslexia for 18 years — three years in Albemarle, 12 years with Richmond Public Schools and is in her third year in Goochland.
She lives in a Museum District condo with a tiny kitchen that she saved for by taking on extra tutoring, baby-sitting and house-sitting gigs. With her master’s degree and additional graduate school credits, she knows that her salary will hover in the low 50s for the coming years.
As this school year begins, Myers is in limbo, wondering if she wants to remain in the classroom while juggling other part-time jobs to make ends meet or if she wants to pursue her doctorate so she can teach “an army” of future teachers who can help struggling readers.
Myers is having the “should-I-stay or should I go” discussion with herself often. She would like the ability to earn more, and she also would like to see teachers across the board have more time for daily planning, have more classroom autonomy and receive assistance from support staff. “There needs to be more time for teachers to think, to analyze, to adjust to what their kids need.”
Getting Myers and others to stay in the classroom, let alone attracting others to become teachers, is reaching a crisis point in Virginia and across the country, with the governor and gubernatorial candidates seeking solutions.
“I have increasingly heard more serious concerns about the future of our teaching workforce,” Gov. Terry R. McAuliffe wrote the chair of the Board of Education and the chair of the State Council of Higher Education in May, asking for a task force to report to him by Oct. 1. Gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie wants “to increase teacher compensation” and reduce paperwork, and fellow candidate Ralph Northam says he wants to increase teacher salaries to retain and attract more teachers.
Compounding the teacher shortage problem is that staffing in Virginia schools has not increased with growing enrollment since 2009. Budgets were severely cut by state lawmakers during the Great Recession, and the state now has about 2,800 fewer staffers, including teachers, counselors, principals and support positions.
If schools had kept pace with growing enrollment, the state would have 10,400 more staffers, according to an April 2017 Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis report.
When Commonwealth Institute recently held six teacher focus groups around the state, in addition to hearing about the need for more pay, the need for more support staff came up repeatedly. “If we are trimming the support staff, it becomes a more stressful position with a teacher juggling additional roles of counselor, nurse, ... ” says Chris Duncombe, one of the authors of that report.
In 2016, compared to 2009, Richmond City had 157 fewer support staff members, which include school nurses, psychologists and social workers.
As K-12 student enrollment increases nationally, the number of students enrolled in teacher programs declined 32 percent from 2009 to 2014, according to a presentation given by the state superintendent of instruction in April. In Virginia, in a snapshot of 2013-14, 11,184 had enrolled to become teachers and 3,924 completed their studies.
Last year, Virginia schools opened their doors with 1,080 vacant teacher spots and, according to the Virginia Department of Education, this year is set to be no different.
The fact that elmentary educators have made it to the statewide shortage list (see far right) also has set off alarm bells. ‘Historically, it had not risen to the top of the list, but the fact that it is now on that list is a siren for many of us,’ the Deputy Secretary of Education Holly Coy told a meeting of education school deans and local superintendents in August at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Right now, Virginia teachers make $7,500 below the national average. In 2003-2004, Virginia’s average teacher salary was about $43,655, 21st in the nation according to the National Education Association. In the group’s 2015-16 report, it’s about $50,800 and 29th in the nation.
“Over the last two decades the teaching profession has not been the most respected, and with all the high-stakes testing, it’s taken the fun and innovation out of teaching,” says Virginia Secretary of Education Dietra Trent.
According to Jim Livingston, president of the Virginia Education Association, a group that advocates for teachers, salary is the biggest issue the state faces when recruiting new educators. He also points to college education programs that often require master’s degrees to graduate, increasing the level of debt put on teachers once they enter the workforce. “Kids are graduating with an average of $30,000 to $50,000 in student loan debt,” he says. “It’s not financially viable.”
For Livingston, the first step the state can take is an increasing salaries, but increases are only one part of a much needed, multi-pronged approach.
Those leaving the profession say they no longer feel they have an “important role in the decisions at their schools,” Livingston says. Teachers want to be trusted to do their work like accountants or medical professionals — both of which often require extensive schooling like teaching but education policy and public debate often interfere.
When the public screams “our schools are failing,” Livingston says the public puts the blame squarely on educators. “We’ve had teachers attend local school board meetings or board of supervisors meetings and find themselves derided by local citizens.”
While the Virginia General Assembly did approve a 2 percent contribution toward teacher raises in February 2017 — that each locality had to agree to accept and help fund, the Education Law Center ranks Virginia 46th out of 50 in teacher salary competitiveness when it compares those salaries with other occupations in the same labor market that need the same degree level.
On Sept. 19, when we went to press, the state’s superintendent of instruction was scheduled to be in Washington, D.C., discussing an August 2017 report, “Teacher Turnover: Why It Matters and What Can We Do About It,” from the Learning Policy Institute.
The report cites that two-thirds who leave the profession are not retirees. Its recommendations to foster retention include improved compensation; loan forgiveness and service scholarships; better principal training; and paraprofessional-to-teacher programs.
Goochland teacher Anna Moriah Myers went into teaching to help children. “We do this because we love teaching. We love kids. We love the interaction and growing minds, “ she says. “Chances are, most teachers have had desk jobs. And we hated them.”
While in college at University of Virginia, Myers worked for the Dave Matthews Band, but even that environment didn’t pull her away from her desire to teach. “They had just begun the massive franchise that is MusicToday.com, and they offered me a full-time job. I didn’t even consider it. I wanted kids. I wanted the classroom.
“In no way do I regret taking this path. I just wish I could work in the manner I know is most effective and be regarded as a true professional in society’s eyes and be able to know that when I retire that there is a nest egg waiting for me rather than debt.”
