When the 2020-2021 school year arrived in August, almost 700 teaching positions were still vacant across the state, according to the 2020-21 SC Annual Educator Supply and Demand Report.
Although district dropouts fell 10% compared to last year, 6,000 teachers did not return to teaching in the same district with higher levels of early dismissals, according to the report released by the Center for Recruitment, Retention and Advancement of Educators from Rock Hill.
Of those who left the field, 42% had five or less years of experience in teaching SC compared to 36% last year. About 16% of the respondents had 12 months of experience or less. Almost 40%, or 5,996 teachers, did not return to the same positions they held in the 2019-2020 school year – an increase of 28% over the previous year, according to the report.
“If there was anything good in the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that South Carolinians have a new appreciation for the tremendous work that teachers have in educating our students,” said State Superintendent of Education, Molly Spearman, in a statement to follow the release of the report Thursday. “However, the pandemic has intensified the teacher crisis in our state, as evidenced by the report released today.”
As expected by the district leadership in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the teacher supply and demand gap has widened by 140 places since the previous school year, according to the statement.
“Now is the time for state and local leaders to come together for current and future educators, supporting financial incentives, policies and programs that will help ensure that we have a strong, high-quality teacher workforce serving our students for years to come. ”, Spearman said in the statement.
To make up for the shortage, Spearman and the Department of Education called for the following actions:
- Fund retroactively the annual increase of the stage for 2020-2021
- Increase salaries for all teachers by at least 2% in the budget for fiscal year 2021-2022
- Work to increase the pay of South Carolina teachers to achieve the national average
- Increase awareness of personal growth initiatives such as Call Me Mister, ProTeam, Teacher Cadets and SC-PRRMT
- Give teachers unimpeded planning time for non-instructional tasks
- Fund salary supplements for National Board certified teachers
- Increase the total value of the supply supplement available to teachers
- Provides step up with 28 years of service
- Simplify the teacher assessment process
- Assess requirements for teacher certification and recertification.