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The state’s largest union of educators is offering solutions to the growing statewide shortage of teachers – and they may be getting some help from Governor Mark Dayton.
In his supplemental state budget released Tuesday, Dayton proposes to spend $12.4 million of a projected $900 million surplus to train and attract 1,200 teacher candidates by 2021.
“The governor understands Minnesota cannot maintain quality public schools if it fails to attract and retain more qualified teachers, especially teachers of color,” said Education Minnesota President Denise Specht. “The teacher shortage is real and we applaud the governor for taking action.”
On Monday, the union, which represents 70,000 educators from pre-K through higher education, released a report showing the state is facing a growing shortage of teachers, particularly teachers of color.
The union’s Educator Policy Innovation Center, which drafted the report, recommends more autonomy, stress reduction, financial support and other solutions for attracting and retaining high-quality teachers.
“It’s harder to be a teacher today than it was for me, my mother and even great-grandmother,” Specht said at a news conference announcing the findings.
Recommendations include:
- Provide stronger financial support to attract highly qualified people to teaching.
- Create high school programs to promote teaching as a profession.
- Provide financial incentives to educators willing to work in schools that serve high needs populations.
- Increase autonomy for teachers to respond to student needs and involve teachers in the schoolwide decision-making process.
- Invest in high-quality professional development for all educators.
- Decrease work stress placed on educators in special education, an extreme shortage area.
The Minnesota Department of Education’s Teacher Supply and Demand report shows that during the 2013-14 school year, there were 58,211 teachers employed in Minnesota’s public schools. But because of the shortage of teachers, districts and charter schools hired 3,504 teachers who “lacked the necessary licenses for the subjects and the grade levels taught,” according to the report.
“If Minnesota is serious about improving educational outcomes, then policymakers must be equally resolute about recruiting and retaining talented individuals to the teaching profession,” the report states.
This is the fourth report from EPIC, created by Education Minnesota in 2015 to ensure educators are at the forefront of policy decisions that impact our students, teachers, schools and communities.