We have positions to hire, and there are no candidates. The only people we interviewed already have jobs. The few who don’t aren’t necessarily great, but it’s all we are getting. Even the nearby university tells us they have few candidates in teaching. We used to be able to switch people around as needed, then hire to fill spots. Now we can’t even do that because nobody is out there to hire.
I think it might be a problem this year. I interviewed for a theatre position at a school in my district that they couldn't fill last year. I'm also the only person on the list for another theatre position in a nearby town, which is the town to work in around here, so it's surprising. In the past, when a theatre position, there would be 500 apps for one position. All of this is good for me, since I don't really need a job, but am always looking for something better. My current principal, who knows I've been recruited, is really worried as to who will take my place if I leave. I won't be surprised if there's some pot sweetening to keep me.
Please keep us updated on your job search! It sounds really promising for you!!! Also, you district and principal should have worked harder to keep you.
I don't know where you are, but I keep hearing about teacher shortages in California. Looking at what some of the schools in my area are offering teachers, it looks like it could be true.
I just looked on Edjoin and there are TONS of middle school and high school math positions available. They continue to be added by the day! Wow!
Our previous governor did a lot to discourage teaching in our state. Several of our newer (under 10 years) teachers have gotten out of teaching due to the issues.
Yes! There are many postings. I have even seen positions open even after the school year has started (specifically in the district where I am from).
Don’t you love job security, haha?! My friends are quite happy about that as they were worried for a great while.
There’s a lot to it, but it started as an attack against the retirement system. During the course of the whole thing, he called teachers thugs, called kids soft because school was cancelled due to cold, and when school was cancelled, he said he wondered how many kids were abused because they weren’t at school.
Here are the things that would make me hesitate to go into teaching these days. These don't apply in every state, but in many: No more tenure which effectively means (in non-union states especially) that you can be let go or non-renewed for so many reasons that have nothing to do with your performance. Doing away with years of experience -- in many states, for the last 3-7 years, they have done away with years of experience. If you move to the state and start working, you don't get any credit for all the years of experience you have -- you start off at the same salary as a brand new teacher with no experience. So you may have made $58,000 at your job last year, but you will have to start over at $41,000 to work in this new state. That's a huge cut. No longer paying for advanced degrees. In many districts, they no longer pay for having a master's degree at all. Extending the work day, but not the pay proportionally. It used to be that schools had instructional and planning hours for 7 to 7.5 hours per day. Of course there was still a lot you had to do at home -- planning, grading, etc. But now, many schools have moved to an 8.5 or 9 hour school day. Getting rid of duty-free lunches, or saying you have them but they don't really exist. I personally can't think of a time in the past 10 years of teaching that I actually got more than 15 minutes to eat. Paying for larger and larger portions of our benefits -- especially health insurance. For the past 12 years that I taught, our schools never gave more than a 2-3% cost of living increase. However, each year the cost of our health insurance went up -- and always by more than our pay increase -- so we effectively lost money every year we stayed. Disappearing teacher autonomy. Many districts now want cookie-cutter classes -- every 2nd grade class in the entire district is expected to be at the same place, on the same day, reading the same story, with the teacher using the same read-aloud, etc. They leave no room for exceptional or inspired teaching. Just make sure you are on page 72 of the reader on Tuesday -- and ready to take the standardized district-wide test on Wednesday. Doing away with fun activities. Many schools no longer allow anything to do with food. Gone are holiday celebrations too, even if they can be linked to the curriculum. Forget about making a Mother's day craft -- crafts are frowned upon right now. Adding, and adding, and adding to the school day, and never taking anything away. Teaching has become very stressful. Behavior issues are not dealt with appropriately. Special need students are place in classrooms that are not their "least restrictive environment" because it is cheaper. "Feel good" behavior management has taken over, and frankly, it just isn't working
My word, this sounds horrible. I’m glad that I work in California and can be rest assured that my years of experience will be recognized all over, that they would pay me an annual stipend for my Masters and additional stipends if I were to become Nationally certified and if I possessed a Doctorate degree. There are places that will even pay me a substantial signing bonus for a two-year commitment. We also have great unions and tenure is acquired after two years, I believe in most districts. Really, in CA, the sky’s the limit.
I know that there are states and schools out there that have some or all of these problems, but I wouldn't want a potential teacher to interpret this as it being a problem everywhere. In my experience - in two states, four districts, and five schools, some of these things might be a problem in some places, but these are not problems everywhere, and none of these are all problems in one place. All schools have pros and cons, and it's important to do your research when applying for and accepting teaching positions.
Hmmm...the only thing you listed above that’s true in the districts in my area is that tenure is earned after 2 years. I think you might have some pie in the sky ideas about the pay scales here.
In my spare time, I like to collect salary schedules from all over California and compare them. I only keep the ones that offer “enough” by my standards. Many of them do as I said previously.
What I have noticed over the years is that when unemployment goes up, there are a lot of people from other professions that move over to teaching. They tend not to stick around once the economy gets better. I saw it in 1992, 2001-02, and 2008-09 which were recession years. For that reason, I don't think we are going to see a situation next year (at least not in most of the states) that have few candidates. I do think the 2020-2021 will be a unique year with challenges in the economy. After the vaccine and the economy improves, then we will probably see another teaching shortage.
Yes! I have been teaching internationally in Mexico for 11 years. Since it is an accredited school, California will accept those years as experience.
I was just offered the job today. I haven't submitted my letter of resignation as of yet, so perhaps there may be offers coming my way, but I doubt it. ANd the one thing I really want, they can't give me. As much as I'm excited about this new job, my heart breaks for my kids that I'm leaving behind. We have a very arrogant instructional lead who has been gunning for my classes since she arrived (she has no business being instructional lead, she has only 3 years teaching experience and no leadership skills at all), so I'm sure when she finds out she will be off to the AP to ask for my classes. Having seen the students that come out of her class into mine--let's just say that she is not doing them any favors. I am going to push for one of our stronger new teachers to take over my AP classes --he may leave if they don't offer him something good, so I'm hoping they consider my recommendation. My current district also can't increase my salary by $6,000 either.
I don't think most of this is true everywhere. At least not around here and I have seen similar things in San Diego: - Yes, there's tenure - Yes they recognize years of service but often there is a cut off, could be 7 years or more. I also heard that sometimes it can be negotiated if they really want you. - I have a Masters and I don't get an annual stipend. You get an increased pay with additional credits. I have one more column I could get to (I have a Masters with additional credits), but the yearly different would be $1500 pretax and it would take 3 times more to pay for the courses, so I don't see it worth it. - for a doctorate you would get a yearly $1000. That's nothing. - I have never heard of a signing bonus in any districts (public school) - unions, I don't know if every district has them. Ours is pretty good but that changes. My friend's union down in San Diego is really strong but they're always battling with the district, at one point they didn't get raises for 5+ years, and there were all kinds of issues. They even ended up striking. I do love my job and I think this district is pretty good. Our cost of living is low and the pay is good. But I wouldn't generalize California and say "the sky is the limit". There are great districts, good, average and bad ones. the same goes for administrators and unions.
Signing bonus for math teachers: https://www.edjoin.org/Home/Jobs?keywords=Math signing bonus ca&searchType=all
Yes, there is ONE job for a math teacher with a signing bonus. But I'd like to point out that in that area a one bedroom apartment costs $3,000 per month! ($36,000 per year.) If you needed a 3 bedroom house (like if you had a family) then you would paying around $6,500 per month ($78,000 per year.) (and that's not an especially nice house -- just an average one.) Suddenly, that $3,000 sign on bonus and that $56,418 starting salary doesn't seem so good... Even with 12 years experience and a master's, you'd make $96,260, which sounds great until you realize it would cost you $78,000 per year for housing. Hmmm that only leaves utilities, taxes, insurances, food, and a car payment... Sure couldn't do that on the $18,260 that would be left over. Your taxes on your house would be more than that...
I count 5 jobs at present that offer the bonus and more usually get added as time goes on. They are quite common for math teaching positions. Again, that’s why you commute to the area from a cheaper municipality.
We are having trouble filling a math position at the school where I teach, and we are considered one of the more desirable schools in the area. The opening is because of increased enrollment. I feel bad for one of my coworkers. His first day "in the classroom" was March 16th, which was our first day of distance learning. He's a sweet guy, but what a way to start a teaching career!
