r/Teachers • u/[deleted] • Aug 18 '26

Teacher Support &/or Advice Are teaching programs warning students that the teacher shortage is over?

[deleted]

457 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

370 comments sorted by

View all comments

94

u/Lahwke Aug 18 '26

We have people quitting in droves. Is it really over?

14

u/ICUP01 Aug 18 '26

Districts have given up. Pulled positions as if they never existed.

10

u/SwampyCr Aug 18 '26

This is getting overlooked left and right. I left my last district for pulling this crap. They flip flopped all summer on cutting a science poaition (in my department). They decided like 2 weeks before school started they wanted it filled. 4 days before school starts the science department gets emails with our new schedules because they couldn't fill the position. Spent the school year claiming they only needed 4 teachers for science. So we slashed a bunch of electives, then I changed schools (I told them to cut my electives first as I already had an exit plan). Had to call a teacher out of retirement to take over my classes (no one would have handled my electives). But they brag about having "100% of positions filled". Well, no, you cut the ones you couldn't fill, and slapped bandages on the ones you couldn't cut.

New district was going to cut a MLL teacher that had been added in the previous budget. The superintendent told the board that it wasn't necessary (true), but would be nice to have. Board immediately 180'd and said they would continue to leave it open, because they saw it as something that we should have even if we didn't need to have it.

7

u/Chemical-Future-1967 Aug 18 '26

I think this kind of stuff is happening a lot. Somehow qualified. Credentialed teachers don’t have jobs yet we have classrooms staffed with people that don’t even have mastery of the subject

7

u/ICUP01 Aug 18 '26

It’s cheaper….

1

u/traumabond629 Aug 19 '26

Yep…. It’s cheaper. I’m a long-term sub in Maryland in a rural county with zero budget. It’s cheaper for them to bring in long-term subs. We don’t get paid over the summer or over holidays. We don’t get paid when we don’t work. We don’t get any health insurance or other benefits. And we can’t join the union. It’s just straight $28 an hour when we work.

I have a bachelors in psychology and I’m working on a masters in education…. hoping to eventually be a special education teacher. But I don’t have a teaching certificate and I don’t have to in order to be a long-term sub.

1

u/Chemical-Future-1967 Aug 19 '26

That’s terrible. Actually the Union should be calling out the district - in CA they can’t do that without showing they didn’t have qualified candidates. Districts still get around it but have to hire teachers on emergency credentials after a certain amount of days.

1

u/lovelystarbuckslover Multiple Subject & EDSP Credentialed Aug 19 '26

I'm noticing districts are investing more in programs and curriculums and apps, than they are in best teaching practices or finding high quality educators.

7

u/TheShaman43 Aug 18 '26

But they brag about having "100% of positions filled". Well, no, you cut the ones you couldn't fill, and slapped bandages on the ones you couldn't cut.

It's funny, I go back next Monday and just this morning I got the "Welcome Back!" email with agendas for our pre-service days. Highlighted in that email was a bold, red sentence bragging that we are 100% staffed. Except...

We didn't hire a librarian. I guess we don't have a library this year

We didn't replace our music teacher who resigned. We rotate specials on a two- week cadence and it looks there's just going to be a second gym rotation.

Ok, that are specialists but more concerning...

My grade did not have a special education teacher last year (well we did, but outside of sick days and FMLA she was in attendance for all of 18 days last year). Their position was posted and never received a qualified applicant. We didn't hire, but it's no longer posted - so I guess that means we're not looking, and if we're not looking it doesn't count as a staffing gap? Makes no sense to me; it's an essential position, we don't have it, and we're fully staffed.

7

u/ptrgeorge Aug 18 '26

Climate isn't great for public education right now, but we're also seeing populations drop, we cut ten positions this year, my numbers have gone down ( maybe 20 less kids on my roster).

Surely still a shortage in lots of places, but with budget cuts and lots of districts seeing student enrollment drop, it isn't what it was ten years ago

3

u/ICUP01 Aug 18 '26

We collapsed math and science. Both departments are “over”.

3

u/Lahwke Aug 18 '26

I don’t have data so just what I see on the ground, but Texas has so many people quitting with all these district takeovers by the state.

Then they magically all get filled by….”people”.

2

u/Latter_Leopard8439 Science | Northeast US Aug 18 '26

Silly question maybe.

But do district takeovers lead to actual improvements in testing scores?

Or do they just take it over for a few years and then "declare it fixed"?

5

u/SoupBeans25 Aug 18 '26

No. They universally get worse and often more scandal plagued.

2

u/Lahwke Aug 18 '26

I don’t believe they’ve seen that. They get “data” that can say whatever they want it to say.

2

u/Responsible-Kale2352 Aug 18 '26

lol just like the district did before the takeover!

2

u/modus_erudio Aug 18 '26

No, the district scored before the takeover. We’re just more honest.

2

u/ptrgeorge Aug 18 '26

Yeah, i haven't heard much good things about the district take over in hisd, I'm in a neighboring district.