As a generation of teachers retire and their burned-out younger colleagues quit sooner, complaining about the workload and the pay, public schools have struggled to keep their classrooms staffed.
Georgia public schools were short 5,300 teachers as of December, an ongoing problem state lawmakers have been unable to fix. They have a new proposed solution, but it would take awhile to put in place: let more retired teachers return to the classroom with both pay and pensions.
Teacher retention and recruitment is difficult and some schools make use of J-1 Visas to recruit teachers from outside the U.S. In one rural school district in Alaska, foreign teachers make up over half the staff.
Georgia's U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock introduced new legislation on Monday to boost the child care workforce by increasing access to early Head Start programs nationwide.
Teachers and administrators, already facing long hours and low pay, now find themselves under pressure from politicians, parents and even their own school districts.
The federal department of education is granting $9.6 million to a partnership between five Georgia school systems and Mercer University’s Tift College of Education. The aim of the partnership is luring mid-career people to teaching.
Waiving state certification can make it easier for school districts to fill vacancies amid the shrinking pool of experienced educators and fewer in college studying to become educators. Waiver teachers make up about a quarter of Bibb Schools’ teachers.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a new initiative to help schools and child care facilities that are experiencing "extreme" staffing shortages. The plan also taps state employees.
Burnout and thinning substitute teacher rolls plus the fallout of the omicron surge is pushing school leaders to the brink of desperation. Lawmakers are responding by rewriting hiring rules.
DeKalb County is looking to fill nearly 300 teaching positions ahead of the first day of school on Aug. 6 — but recruiting teachers is also an issue...
