The Last Straw

Virginia teachers have had enough — but opportunities abound for those willing to step in

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A history buff and basketball coach, Gray Burnette loved teaching middle school for Henrico County Public Schools. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, everything changed. “After coming back from COVID, the education system was fractured,” Burnette says. “During virtual school, teachers got mentally drained trying to figure out a whole new online system, and kids were turning off their cameras and playing video games.”

When school reopened in person, Burnette says things only got worse. Student discipline issues increased, and teachers took on heavier workloads, including more requirements for measuring and tracking student growth. “These things really ate into the curriculum,” says Burnette, who spent weekends and nights doing additional paperwork. “I felt like a robot following all these guidelines.”

Between more responsibilities and an increasingly sensitive political environment, Burnette says, he was no longer able to teach history in the same depth, detail or unique style as he was before.

It’s sad, because I went into education because that’s what I really wanted to do — it wasn’t for the money, but unfortunately it became about the money.

—Gray Burnette

Then in August 2021, he and his wife welcomed their first child. Even with a two-income household, Burnette says, day care and baby expenses were a financial burden, and his teaching salary just wasn’t enough anymore. “You don’t realize how much you’re getting paid until you have a kid,” he says. “It’s sad, because I went into education because that’s what I really wanted to do — it wasn’t for the money, but unfortunately it became about the money.”

Then his brother-in-law gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse — to open a sports cards and collectibles shop in downtown Richmond. Burnette says that while leaving his students, players and colleagues at HCPS after 10 years was bittersweet, it was the right decision for his family. He’s poured his passion for teaching and coaching into Graybo’s Sports Cards, where he loves being around sports and interacting with kids, even if it’s on a different level. “I wish I could have stayed in teaching,” he says, “but I’m making more money here, I’m happier here. I set my own schedule, and I don’t have to rush in the morning. And I can take my time eating lunch — which is a big thing.”

Teacher Turnover

Burnette is one of 600,000 teachers in the United States who have quit the profession following the pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau for Labor Statistics. And a survey of teachers by the National Education Association indicates that 55% of current educators are considering leaving.

In a 2022 report for the Virginia General Assembly, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission detailed the pandemic’s impact on the state’s public schools, with significant results including lower teacher morale and higher turnover. The report revealed that, in the 2021-22 school year, the number of Virginia teachers who left the profession was 12% higher than before the pandemic. Nationwide, the teacher turnover rate before the pandemic nationwide was around 6%, followed by 10% turnover in the spring of 2022, according to RAND Corporation, a nonpartisan think tank. Principal turnover went from 3% prior to 2020 up to 16% turnover after the pandemic.

Richmond-area schools saw a much higher increase in teacher departures than the national average. At the end of the 2021-22 school year, more than 550 teachers at Richmond Public Schools — or one in four — resigned, according to a 2022 report by RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras. By comparison, Henrico County Public Schools reported a turnover rate of 14%, and Chesterfield County Public Schools lost 12.4% of its teachers.

Chad Stewart, a policy analyst at the Virginia Education Association, representing 40,000 public school teachers and staff in the commonwealth, is concerned about the historically high vacancy rates going into this school year. “High turnover and vacancies are due to uncompetitive pay, continued disrespect of the profession and culture wars that are driving a wedge between teachers and the community,” Stewart says. “A lot of teachers are saying they’ve had enough.”

Race and Poverty

Studies like the RAND Corporation report indicate that teacher and principal turnover have been highest in school districts that are more urban and have higher levels of poverty and more students of color. In RPS, where teacher turnover has been extremely high, 88% of students qualify for free or reduced lunches.

“From 2021 to 2022, school divisions with the highest share of Black students saw teacher vacancy rates nearly five times higher than the schools with the lowest share of Black students, and divisions with high poverty had twice as many vacancy rates,” Stewart says.

To be clear, it’s not the students driving the turnover. These schools tend to have fewer resources, less parent support and more provisional staff — employees with a college degree but without formal education training. “There are also fewer counselors, custodians and librarians, and when you have less staff, teachers have to wear a lot more hats,” Stewart says. “They have to serve student needs in a lot more ways outside their expertise, and this really contributes to a spiraling of burnout.”

Turnover is also higher and more pronounced among teachers of color, according to a report by the University of Virginia’s EdPolicyWorks research center. In the spring of 2021, nearly 14% of Black females, 12.5% of Black males and 12.4% of Hispanic females left their teaching roles — compared to 10.8% of all teachers in the same time period.

More Vacancies

Virginia faces another difficult challenge in the recruitment of new teachers. The JLARC study revealed that significantly fewer college students are seeking teaching careers than before the pandemic. The number of newly licensed teachers in Virginia for the 2021-22 school year was 15% lower than the previous year. In addition, the number of students enrolled in education programs at Virginia colleges was down more than 32% in 2020 compared to 2011 — a deficit of 4,151 future educators. Nationally, enrollment was down only 12%. “Virginia is uniquely bad when it comes to this metric of our pipeline of future teachers,” Stewart says.

This gap between resignations and the number of new teachers has caused an increase in vacancies — jobs that were never filled for the school year. The JLARC report found there were about 800 vacant teaching positions at Virginia’s public schools before the pandemic. In October 2021, there were more than three times the vacancies. Stewart says the numbers only got worse for the 2022-23 school year, with 3.9% of public school positions never filled. More vacancies mean the existing staff must do more, while students must get by with less.

Time Isn’t Money

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Virginia ranks 10th in the country for median household income but ranks 36th in the country for public education spending per student. “We’ve hovered in that bottom-15 range for 50 years,” Stewart says. “Out of the other high-income states, we’re a total anomaly on what we spend on education. We are considered a high-capacity, low-effort state.”

Virginia is also behind the national average for teacher salaries. The National Education Association estimates that, during the 2023-24 school year, teachers will finally make over the $70,000 mark. In Virginia, even with a 7% pay increase approved by the General Assembly in September, teacher salaries will be more than $4,000 less than the national average. And when factoring in inflation, Virginia teachers’ salaries will fall below pre-pandemic average levels of pay.

Stewart says some have justified lower teacher salaries by pointing to their shorter workdays and summers off, but the reality of teachers’ schedules is much different. The average teacher works 54 hours per week in the United States, while their contract is closer to 36 hours, Stewart says. “We see teachers at high-needs schools working 70 hours a week just to keep up with parent communication, grading papers, doing after-school activities and all the additional tasks they’re being asked to do pro bono.”

In addition, summers are often filled with creating lesson plans, preparing classrooms, attending staff meetings and completing ongoing training requirements.

The Gender Wage Gap

Another explanation for low teacher pay is the gender wage gap. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women working full time in 2023 are paid 83.7% of what men are paid (i.e., 16.3% less), and the inequity is worse for women of color. The Department of Labor report explains that women’s labor is undervalued, and women are more likely than men to work in low-paying jobs. Women represent less than a third of full-time employees making more than $100,000, despite the fact that women are more likely than men to have an associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Stewart says the system has taken advantage of the female-driven industry for far too long. “Teachers are deeply committed to their profession and love their students, but their caring has been used as a bludgeon by politicians. The industry employs a majority of women workers who have put up with lower wages in a difficult, high-stakes work environment.”

In Virginia, around 78% of teachers are female, and a majority of them have a master’s degree. “Teaching is one of the most educated industries in the state,” Stewart says. “There’s a strong job market, and teachers are looking for other options where they are paid more and work less.”

Finding Future Teachers

School systems around Richmond are coming up with innovative solutions for recruiting and retaining teachers, in addition to salary increases and sign-on bonuses.

At Richmond Public Schools, RVA Men Teach is now in its second year. The program is designed to recruit more men and people of color to the profession — teachers like Rodney Robinson, a former Virginia Teacher of the Year and the RVA Men Teach director.

“I had a strong Black male teacher growing up who pushed me toward college,” Robinson says. “My mother always wanted to be a teacher, but being in poverty in segregated rural Virginia, she never got the opportunity. Me becoming a teacher was really living her dream. She instilled in us values of community, building relationships and helping the next person.”

Robinson cites that Black children with a Black teacher in elementary school are 39% less likely to drop out of high school and 19% more likely to go to college. Black students are also more likely to be referred to the gifted program if they have a Black teacher who advocates for them.

When students have teachers that look like them, there is a better cultural understanding, which leads to less discipline problems and more student success.

—Rodney Robinson

The teacher profile in Virginia’s public schools is disproportionate to the state population, according to UVa’s EdPolicyWorks study. Virginia’s population is 68% white, while 82% of the state’s public school teachers are white. The state population is 20% Black, while 11.4% of Virginia teachers are Black. Black male teachers represent just 2.5% of the state’s public school teachers.

“Studies show that when students have teachers that look like them, there is a better cultural understanding, which leads to less discipline problems and more student success,” Robinson says. “Black and Brown boys are the lowest-performing group in RPS and could benefit from more minority teachers.”

RVA Men Teach has partnered with Virginia State University and Virginia Union University to create the only paid historically Black college and university residency program of its kind in the country. Although the program is focused on male minorities, anyone with a bachelor’s degree who qualifies may earn a master’s degree in elementary education or special education while earning up to $28 an hour as a long-term substitute teacher or instructional assistant for one year in RPS. “People of color take on more student debt because they’re typically operating from not as bright a financial picture as others,” Robinson says. “This gives them the opportunity for a free master’s program in education while paying them a working wage.”

So far about 20 people have gone through the residency program, and the first graduates are going into classrooms this year. “We have a former nurse now as an educator, a truancy officer with experience working in the schools and someone who’s worked in the YMCA after-school programs, as well as many other great folks,” Robinson says.

Education Incentives

HCPS is looking at its current student body as a future solution to the teacher shortage. New this year, the Teacher Apprenticeship program helps guide high school students who are interested in pursuing a career in teaching. Students can take courses at the Advanced Career Education Center at Hermitage High School. In the Teachers Scholars program, education students who return to HCPS after college receive a guaranteed teaching position and a $5,000 sign-on bonus with a work commitment of three years.

RPS is developing its current non-teaching staff to fill the gap — including long-term substitutes, behavioral specialists and instruction assistants who already have a bachelor’s degree. In January, RPS started a Build Our Own Teachers program for school employees to become certified teachers. Employees are compensated for courses toward earning a professional teaching license as long as they commit to RPS for three years. So far, about 65 employees are participating. “These are hardworking employees who have been ready for the opportunity for their own classroom,” Robinson says. “They’re already in our community and already know and love our children.”

I love the energy in my classroom. ... I’m doing what I really want to do in life — and that’s to educate.

—Taylor Thomas

One RPS staffer who just completed the Build Our Own Teachers program is Taylor Thomas. Thomas went to college to become a social worker, and a few years into her career realized she wanted to focus on children. She became an instructional assistant at William Fox Elementary School, where she worked for more than four years. While she loved working at the school, she longed for more responsibility. “I was in the process of starting a graduate program but was concerned about tuition and also having to complete a six-week practicum, meaning six weeks without a paid job,” she says. “Then the opportunity with RPS arose.”

Thomas began the Build Our Own Teachers program last year. She continued her teaching duties during the day and studied at night — all while caring for her 2-year-old son and giving birth to a daughter in the summer. On Aug. 21, she opened the door to her own classroom as a fifth-grade teacher at Woodville Elementary School. As a licensed teacher, she had doubled her paycheck. “It’s all God’s timing,” she says. “I’m humbled to have started out at the bottom as an instructional assistant, and I appreciate the resources I’ve been given now — it’s everything to me.”

Thomas credits her husband, her team at Woodville and her former team at Fox Elementary for their support. She will continue to take classes through the RPS program with the goal of receiving a master’s degree and a 10-year teacher’s license. “I love all my kids — my kids are amazing — and I love the energy in my classroom,” she says. “I’m really excited to dive in and get into the meat and potatoes of the curriculum. I’m doing what I really want to do in life — and that’s to educate.”