COLOMBIA, SC (WIS) – The bill that Senators from South Carolina passed on Tuesday to elevate teachers to a higher position in the distribution of the vaccine in the state also contains an amendment designed to help combat the shortage of teachers.
A December report states that there are about 700 openings in school districts across the state.
Currently, retired educators can fill these vacancies and earn up to $ 50,000 a year, but that is only because of the pandemic.
“There is no doubt that we will be short of teachers and labor when we leave this pandemic and move to regular five-day education,” said Republican Senator Gregg Hembree of Horry County. “We will also need additional resources, human resources, for our children to be accompanied.”
But in a few months, the amount retirees could earn by going back to the classroom would drop to about $ 10,000 a year.
“We got the money, the federal government sent about $ 1 billion to work on this recovery, but we will need people to do that,” said Hembree. “So, we will have to be creative to find qualified people who may not be in the current workforce.”
Retired professor Karen Kennedy said lawmakers could help bring teachers back into the job market by extending that ceiling for another three years.
“People retire because they need a break, I think it’s a kind of mental break. To, I don’t know, take a deep breath, ”she said. “And I think that sometimes if teachers sometimes get a little bit of space between the last time they were in the classroom, maybe it was a year or more, maybe they’ll catch their breath and be more willing to go back to the classroom of class.”
The 700 job vacancies registered by the state at the beginning of the year represented an increase of 26% in relation to the previous year. The data shows that 6,000 teachers left the job market, of which about 1,000 have retired.
“There are days when I still feel like I have a lot to offer, especially when I go to visit classrooms,” said Kennedy. “It’s fun and you think, ‘I can do this, or I would do it this way’, so I feel like we all still have a lot to offer, whether it’s helping new teachers and people in the classroom, whatever it looks like or even go back to the classroom in one way or another, but I think exhaustion is real. “
Some lawmakers and teachers say the amendment moves the state in the right direction to combat teacher shortages.
If it doesn’t pass this time, legislators who approve that plan can add it to other accounts.
Governor Henry McMaster tweeted on Tuesday night shortly after the senators unanimously passed the bill to promote teachers in launching the vaccine against transferring them in front of people aged 65 and over for a vaccine.
“Elderly people are being vaccinated in greater numbers every day,” he said on Twitter. “Breaking the faith by decreasing, interrupting, canceling or delaying the vaccination of any elderly person is a bad idea with deadly consequences.”
Educators say they want the state to do both at the same time.
Copyright 2021 WIS. All rights reserved.