Teachers Layoffs Could Cause Shortages Down the Road

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Laying off tens of thousands of teachers and other educational professionals will have a long lasting impacts, due to the reduction in the quality of education for California's children.  The end result will be a less prepared workforce that will weaken California's economy.  The layoffs may also have an exponential effect on the overall ability for California to staff its schools with enough qualified teachers for years to come.

Baby boomers are and will be retiring in massive numbers in the coming years.  California will need to hire at least 100,000 replacement teachers.  There is a reasonable fear that the layoffs this year will drive these potential replacements away from the field.  SDUT:

Thousands of potential educators may be driven from the profession, spooked by the suddenly shaky job prospects, said Margaret Gaston, executive director of The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Cruz.

If that happens, the state could come up short as school districts seek to replace 100,000 teachers expected to retire in the next decade, as well as those who change professions, move out of state and leave to raise families.

This is all occurring as the number of people taking the teaching profession's state entrance exam has declined by 32 percent in the past five years, according to a report that will be given this week to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The report also documents a sharp drop in the number of people enrolled in credentialing programs.

The effect of this year's layoff notices could complicate recruiters' efforts to meet the long-term demand for teachers, said Chris Reising, director of the Teacher Recruitment and Support Center run by the County Office of Education.

My sister is graduating from Brandeis with her elementary education certification this spring.  Any other year and I would have contemplated encouraging her to move out here after graduation.  It would be great to have three out of the four of us Rosen "kids" in California, but there are no jobs here for bright young graduates this year.  So instead she will probably end up somewhere like the DC suburbs where they are hiring teachers.

While this year we are having to layoff teachers, next year we may need to hire tens of thousands of new teachers.  What we do this year will have a huge impact on our ability to attract quality teachers and encourage them to stay in the field.  The volatility is not conducive to retainment.  Why would anyone want to stay in a field where they are underpaid for their level of education and at risk for layoffs?

We have to fix this budget deficit by raising revenues, or else risk dire consequences that cannot be reversed.