Help wanted: California teachers - San Francisco Chronicle:
Help wanted: California teachers
Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle
A conversation about vision and courage around great education must have at its core respect for, and even veneration for, the teachers and educators who are our classroom warriors.
For one of the first times in California history, we are suffering a severe teacher shortage. And, as bad as that is, we now, also, have a significant substitute teacher shortage.
There are not enough backup troops, but that should not be surprising either. For too long, we have belittled, besmirched, discredited and disparaged our teachers, especially our substitutes. Just as educators became more important than ever, we have vilified them.
Budgets, whether family, local, state or national, should be statements of values. There is a crisis in California insofar as our values. It was fostered recently in an environment of short-term thinking when balancing the books dominated the conversation about our budgets, rather than a long-term discussion of values. A decision was made to get by on the cheap, regardless of what is right for the future.
Thus, while California has risen to No. 1 in per prisoner expenditures, we are number 41 in per pupil expenditures. Mind you, the state Constitution explicitly calls on our leadership to make education our priority, but some in Sacramento either do not know Article 16, Section. 8, or choose to ignore it. As a direct result, class size is the largest in America, and teacher morale is flagging. I have said that the lack of morale emanates from an attitude that seems to be, “The floggings will continue until morale improves.”
As most thoughtful people know, the backbone of our education system is our educators, especially our classroom teachers. Teachers are the most important determinant of a child’s education (except for parents and guardians if they are present and engaged). To begin with, as many know, our substitutes are required to have teacher credentials but do not receive benefits and are paid less per day than regular teachers.
There is typically an uncertainty about where and when a substitute will be given work. And costs of commuting are often significant. Goofier still, in many places a substitute teacher must receive an authorization to substitute district by district, at a cost of $100 per district, paid to the Department of Justice for fingerprinting. Some county Offices of Education are now providing a
Help wanted: California teachers - San Francisco Chronicle:
