We Cannot Afford to Let Other States Lure Away Our Best Teachers Because of Budget Shortsightedness

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dennis Smith
Secretary Treasurer
California Federation of Teachers

California’s cuts to education funding are harming our efforts to provide excellent education to our public school students.

California spends millions of dollars to train our state’s teachers, and as result has some of the most experienced and talented educators in the country. The Governor’s proposed $4.8 billion in budget cuts and the resulting tens of thousands of teacher pink slips only tell part of the story about how much education in our state stands to lose --if we allow other states to come in and lure away our talented teachers, we might as well just ship those training funds directly out of the state.

California’s elected officials must do their jobs. They need to figure out how to raise revenue to keep our teachers in our classrooms.

Twenty thousand California teachers have received notices that they are being laid-off and will have no teaching position next year. These teacher layoffs are already harming our schools. Thousand of teachers are demoralized, dispirited and distressed about how they will pay their bills next year and whether they can continue teaching. They now must look for other employment. Many of them will be forced to leave teaching for more stable jobs.

Texas is sending recruiting delegations to California next week, and has placed billboards and newspaper ads across the state. School districts in Nevada are airing radio ads in Los Angeles to recruit teachers while recruiters from Kansas contacted the California Federation of Teachers to inquire about talented teachers. News outlets in Hawaii, Nevada and Texas have reported on their intensive recruitment effort of California’s teachers. Still others will leave California for other states, where their dedication and skills appear to be more appreciated than they are in California. This is a tremendous loss for the students and taxpayers of California.

Most of the laid-off teachers are young, passionate and just beginning their careers. Students will lose dedicated, trained teachers who wanted only a modest paycheck to continue the profession they chose in the state they love.