HANOVER, Pa. — As students at Emory H. Markle Middle School in Hanover, York County discuss their latest reading assignment, South Western School District Superintendent Jay Burkhardt is concerning himself with a different conversation; how to find the next generation of Pennsylvania educators.
While the schools are currently staffed, upcoming retirements mean the district is already beginning recruitment for next year, dipping into a dwindling pool of teaching talent.
“It’s always been an undercurrent. It’s been here for a while. Less and less people are going into the profession,” Burkhardt said. “I would say the impact has become more profound over the last three to five years. We’re seeing a drop off in the number of candidates applying, especially in some of our more specialized certifications; secondary science and mathematics. Even our elementary, which typically drew our greatest number of applicants, we’ve seen a decline in that as well."
“It's a competitive market, not just with school districts and other employers, but among school districts in the state,” said Andrew Christ, director of education policy at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. “They have to have competitive salary and benefit packages, to attract and retain those quality teachers.”
Education experts told FOX43 the competition means schools with higher property tax revenue have an advantage and can outbid other districts for top teaching talent – creating quality gaps in lower-income and minority communities.
It was part of why the Pennsylvania courts ruled the state’s funding system was unconstitutional.
Budget constraints mean some districts have had to adjust their sales pitch to educators.
“It’s about the culture, it’s about the climate, it’s about the support from the community. You understand the expectations, you’re supported, you’re valued and the community is behind you,” Burkhardt said. “I think there is a quality of the job and the profession that can often offset the difference in salary.”
Data from the National Education Association shows the average starting teacher salary in Pennsylvania is $47,827.
That’s the 11th highest in the nation, but lower than neighboring states New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average annual wage for public school teachers in Pennsylvania in constant 2019 dollars declined by almost 6% from 2000 to 2019.
Keep in mind, over the last 20 years, the buying power of $100 has been cut almost in half. That means teacher salaries are significantly less than they were 20 years ago.
“Using the same cost of living across years, the average teacher salary is actually lower than it was in 1990,” said Ed Fuller, a Penn State professor who helped conduct a study on Pennsylvania’s teacher shortage last year. “If you’re coming out of college with a large student loan and you’re not going to make that much as a teacher, it’s just not a very good fiscal decision.”
The Pennsylvania State Education Association is advocating for a minimum $60,000 teacher salary, with a $20-an-hour minimum for supporting staff.
PSEA President Aaron Chapin said it would help districts compete for new teachers.
“If we expect kids coming out of college to stay in Pennsylvania, we need to pay them. When you go to West Virginia, or to Delaware, New Jersey, or Ohio, all the states that surround us pay their educators more. They pay their support staff more,” he said. “We need to do the same thing in Pennsylvania if we're going to attract the best and the brightest.”
Republicans and Democrats are split on how to address the state’s teacher shortage.
Democrats want to invest $10 million more in the state’s Educator Talent Recruitment Account; that’s grant money to help schools pay for teacher salaries.
It’s part of the Governor’s plan that would invest $1.1 billion in additional Basic Education Funding.
Democratic Representative Mike Sturla believes the plan would work, but it will take time to see results.
“Part of this is we're looking at trying to look at this holistically and saying, how do you get there fast enough?” Sturla said. “We have a shortage of teachers in the state of Pennsylvania right now. If I say you can only use this if you're hiring new teachers, the school district says, ‘I've tried, I can't hire new teachers till you graduate some more.’ Some of the new teacher hires might be in year four because that's when we'll have new graduates.”
Republicans want to change the state’s pension system, a noted budget concern in the Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s recent state of education report and one that the party said is digging into the state’s general fund.
Republican State Senator Greg Rothman worries taxpayers would be on the hook for teacher salary increases.
“We hear the school districts constantly saying, 'We need more money, we need more money,' and there are taxpayers that are on the other end of that,” Rothman said. “I'm not opposed to the governor's proposal to offer incentives to teachers, but I ultimately think it's the market. Is it right that one school district can pay another teacher more than another? Not if it's coming out if the funding is coming from the state. I don't think that's appropriate.”
Both sides agree on additional student-teacher stipends and reduced class sizes.
Experts tell FOX43 there may be other solutions, like increasing teacher scholarships and starting programs to allow professionals in other careers to transition to teaching.
Still, Burkhardt said the need for quality educators will never end
“Let’s say we close the gap and we don’t have the shortage, we’re going to have to continually work to make sure that it never happens again or to make sure that the workforce is there to support us moving forward as educators,” he said.
He suggests a simple gesture can help shrink the shortage.
“If I could give any word of encouragement to our public, please let the teachers know how much they mean to you,” Burkhardt said. “People always think it comes down to salary, but that impact it has on a teacher is greater than you could ever imagine.”
If there are any signs of hope to be seen, several of FOX43’s interview subjects said they’re optimistic that the shortage may be leveling off, but lawmakers are still expected to address the concerns in this year’s budget.