I read in Wednesday’s Salt Lake Tribune that Envision Utah wants to study Utah's teacher shortage. Do we really need another study?
A few years ago, I wrote a commentary stating that a third of the teachers in the Granite School District (and possibly in the Jordan School District, too) would be retiring by the year 2020, and Utah would be facing a huge teacher shortage. Many of those retiring have 30-plus years of teaching.
Rather than take note of these numbers, the state chose to cut teacher pensions and increase public school testing. Previously, pensions were a huge draw for incoming teachers.
Many incoming teachers knew they wouldn't be at the top of the food chain in pay scale, but they would have a pension if they taught 30 years. Now the state requires more years of teaching to reach the pension. Along with the pension cuts came more student testing, to prove one can teach.
Today's classrooms are more diverse than ever. The range of student behaviors and academics can be difficult to teach and challenging to test. I believe the only way Envision Utah can truly study why Utah has a teacher shortage is to spend two weeks in a classroom teaching. Then they could see that it's not just the salary.
Peggy Clark, Salt Lake City