09/05/2017
As the Fall semester gets underway, more and more news is delivered on the coming teacher shortage. If you've always though about becoming a teacher, now is a great time. Give us a call to learn more 315-792-3010. From the Ithaca Journal
New York teachers wanted: Here’s why
State’s number of active educators has dropped
JOSEPH SPECTOR
ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF
ALBANY - New York has nearly 8,600 fewer active educators than it did five years ago, and the number of SUNY students majoring in education has dropped 50 percent since 2007, fueling fears of a looming teacher shortage across the state.
State education officials are warning about a lack of teachers and trying to find new ways to encourage young adults to enter the profession — while at the same time easing some of the regulations that have discouraged it as a career.
“We have become very focused in New York on what we can do to create the best teaching force we can,” state education commissioner MaryEllen Elia said.
The latest figures from the state’s Teacher Retirement System, which tracks the salaries and pensions of teachers and administrators, show a 3 percent drop in educators between 2013 and June 30 — falling from 273,328 to 264,761 over that stretch.
If you go back to 2010, the gap is even wider: There are 21,000 fewer teachers and administrators in the system than there were seven years ago, a 7 percent drop.
There are two other issues that make the disparity even more acute.
Thirty-two percent of the workers are age 50 and above, so they will be nearing retirement soon; and there are not enough students in colleges studying to be teachers.
At SUNY colleges, many of which were founded as teaching schools, the number of students in teaching programs fell by half between 2007 and 2016: from 20,300 to 10,000, SUNY records show.
“Clearly there is a shortage on the horizon, and some districts are already experiencing significant difficulty attracting teachers,” said Carl Korn, a spokesman for the New York State United Teachers union.
Perhaps one of the reasons the problem isn’t more immediate is that enrollment in New York schools has declined in recent years.
The number of students in New York’s nearly 700 districts — excluding the so-called “Big Five” school systems — dropped nearly 6 percent between the 2010-11 year and the 2016-17 year.
So some fiscal watchdogs said the decline in the teacher ranks is consistent with the drop in students — despite school spending that climbed 13 percent over the past five years.
“New York’s school districts are receiving record-high levels of aid from Albany to educate fewer students, and our school taxes are still climbing,” Tim Hoefer, executive director of the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative group, said in a report in May.
Recruiting underway
But even in some districts where enrollment has declined, in rural areas, for example, they have reported trouble finding new teachers to replace ones that retired, school officials said.
Elia said the state Education Department plans to start an online clearinghouse so districts can post teacher positions that are available, and she and outgoing SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher started Teach NY, which aims to develop policies and programs to promote the profession.
Zimpher has predicted New York may need 180,000 new teachers in the next decade.
“There is perhaps no higher calling — no single profession that has a greater impact on quality of life and economic prosperity — than teaching; and yet today’s teachers are among the most underserved in terms of clinical preparation, professional development and support,” Zimpher said in a statement in June.
School officials point to the precipitous drop in teachers starting with therecession in 2008 and 2009, when schools in New York and the nation laid off school employees amid budget gaps due to the poor economy.
Also, the fight over new testing standards for students and teachers, both in New York and the nation, has soured interest in the profession, educators said.
Indeed, it’s not only a New York issue: the U.S. Department of Education estimated in 2011 that 1.6 million new teachers will be needed nationally by 2022.
