Teacher Shortage Being Felt In Southeast Indiana Schools

By Mike Perleberg (Switzerland County, Ind.) - As students return from summer break, southeast Indiana schools are among those experiencing the effects of a teacher shortage. Between 2009 and 2015, there has been a 33 percent decline in the number of first-time teacher licenses being awarded by the Indiana Department of Education. Licenses issued to first-time teachers was down 21 percent in just one year, 2015 compared to 2014. “There is indeed a teacher shortage. Anyone who is close to the situation can verify it,” Jac-Cen-Del Community Schools superintendent Tim Taylor tells Eagle Country 99.3. “Good people simply are choosing not to enter in to the profession as reflected in the drastic enrollment decline in education majors at most Indiana universities,” adds South Dearborn Community Schools superintendent John Mehrle. Ball State University, home to one of Indiana’s largest teachers colleges, has seen enrollment in elementary and kindergarten education programs decline by 45 percent in the past decade, according to a recent article published in the Indianapolis Star. RELATED: GMS 8th Graders Take It Upon Selves to Thank Teachers The Blue Ribbon Commission on the Recruitment and Retention of Excellent Educators - a panel of 49 state office holders and educators – last year issued a report with suggested solutions for state legislators to consider in the 2016 session, however, only one related bill passed. It sets up the New Generation Hoosier Educators Scholarship, which offers up to $7,500 per year for students who commit to teaching in Indiana for at least five years. The new teacher scholarship could pay dividends several years from now and lawmakers may consider more helpful legislation in the 2017 legislative session. Meanwhile, local schools are scrounging and shuffling to fill vital positions. Switzerland County Schools superintendent Mike Jones says four years ago his district received as many as 30 applications for an elementary teaching position. This summer, the number of applications fell to about three to five. “We were lucky in the past couple years that we had several of our former students who wanted to come home and teach here. However, even that pool seems to be drying up,” Jones shares. At Sunman-Dearborn Community Schools, there would be nearly 100 applications for an elementary position as recently as five years ago. That number has since plummeted to 10, says superintendent Andrew Jackson. Locally, the need is apparent across all grades and disciplines, though secondary math and science, foreign language, and special education teachers seem to be the biggest need. Taylor says Jac-Cen-Del High School had to utilize a teacher exchange program to bring in a Spanish teacher from Spain last school year. Rob Moorhead, the superintendent at South Ripley Community Schools, says the shortage has put current teachers at a premium. He explains that just days before the new school year began on Wednesday, a junior high science teacher left to teach in another southern Indiana school district. South Ripley is now using a retired English teacher to teach the science classes while searching for a licensed science instructor. “Since there are significantly fewer new teachers applying for positions, districts are forced to take candidates from other districts which creates the domino effect.  This is very frustrating, especially when it happens late in the summer,” Moorhead explains. Even finding quality school administrators is becoming a problem, according to South Dearborn’s Mehrle. “The pool of quality candidates applying for administrator positions has declined substantially over the past few years,” Mehrle says. Southeast Indiana’s superintendents echo each other in citing low pay for teachers as a big part of the problem. Some of the local education leaders attributed the stagnant pay to state funds being siphoned from public schools to instead fund charter schools and vouchers. According to the National Education Association, the average beginning teacher salary in Indiana is about $33,547. The figure could be a deterrent for students leaving college and shouldering thousands more in student loans. RELATED: Dearborn Co. Retired Teachers Award $500 Grants To Three Educators Low morale surrounding education caused by negative rhetoric from the public and politicians, constantly changing standards, and the pressure created by testing is also blamed for the educator shortage. “In recent years education has become a political football that gets kicked around and this is damaging to the profession,” Moorhead believes. Jones, who is the vice chair of the 6th congressional district for the Indiana Democratic Party, believes educators need a greater voice in the state’s education system. “The General Assembly and our state leaders have pretty much ignored the voices of our education community and pursued reform that is driven more by business, and education reformers that have an agenda that is contrary to what is in the best interest of our public community schools,” Jones said. Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz is the state’s lone statewide office-holding Democrat. She accused the Republican-led legislature and Governor Mike Pence of failing to move forward meaningful legislation in the 2016 lawmaking session. In May, Ritz said she would push for action on other initiatives identified by the Blue Ribbon Commission including establishing the Indiana Center on Teacher Quality at Indiana University, creating a full-time position at the IDOE to support educators, and developing resources to promote and support the teaching profession. The onus won’t simply be on policy makers to turn the trend around. Moorhead, who has two sons entering the education field, knows that there are also things that can be done today by current teachers and administrators to ensure that Indiana has classrooms sufficiently staffed in the years ahead. “We need great people in the profession and I truly believe that we need to do a better job of encouraging our best and brightest students to consider a career in the education field. The opportunity to have a positive impact on the lives of young people is something on which it is hard to place a price tag,” he says. RELATED STORIES: Ritz, Gregg Stump For Votes In Aurora Gov. Pence Signs Bill That Sets Up Scholarship Fund For Future Indiana Teachers Amid Union Opposition, Lawmakers Scrap Plan To Offer Extra Pay For Teachers 2015 - IDOE: New Teacher Licenses Down 33%