Editor’s note: This article was updated to remove statement BenitoLink reached out to San Benito High School District as the two people that were attempted to contact are not with the district.
As the school teacher shortage continues across California, leading state officials and school districts are scrambling to find enough teachers for their classes. North County Joint Union School District and Tres Pinos Union School District in San Benito County were able to fill their teacher vacancies before classes began last week, but said it was a struggle. The situation has districts concerned about the future of teaching and classrooms in the county.
San Benito County administrators point to the pandemic’s negative impact on teachers.
In a news release from the California Department of Education on April 19, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said there were more than 10,000 teacher vacancies across the state during the 2021-22 school year.
Hollister Elementary School Teacher Association President Nicole Felkins reported that the Hollister School District, which oversees 10 schools, has a total of 11 positions not filled. She said the district is in the process of interviewing and filling nine of those positions. The other two have no leads but are still covered by either interim credentialed, emergency permit, and long-term substitute teachers.
This appears to be in line with the same trends of the 2022-23 school year and a sign of decade-long struggles to attract new teachers. According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing annual reports, the state had not exceeded the 18,734 new teaching credentials issued in the 2010-11 school year until the 2020-21 school year when it issued 19,666.
But then the industry began to see the impacts of COVID-19. A 2021 report from the California State Retirement System shows there was a 26% increase in retirements from public school teachers in 2020. Out of the study’s 500 survey responses, 62% said they retired earlier than they had planned to, and 56% said the challenges of teaching during the pandemic was their main reason for retiring.
BenitoLink also Hollister School District and Aromas-San Juan Unified School District but did not receive responses. They are the districts with the largest and third largest enrollments in the county.
“In years past, when you would post a position, you would get 20 or more qualified candidates. Now we are happy if we get five,” North County Joint Union School District Superintendent/Principal Jennifer Bernosky said.
Principal Nancy Wilcox at Tres Pinos Union Elementary School said that this year finding candidates has been “unusually difficult. Normally for a teaching position, you would have 8-12 applicants. Now, many of the teachers that are applying are from out of the country.”
She said most of the overseas applicants have been from the Philippines, and while they are qualified, it can take up to a year for them to enter the U.S.
Several school administrators reached by BenitoLink also expressed concern for future staffing shortages.
San Benito County Office of Education Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Logue said there are also other factors such as workforce demographics.
“We have many Baby Boomers retiring and just not enough workforce to take their place,” Logue said. “It’s a worker shortage, not just a teacher shortage. It’s not simply education, it’s also fire, police, restaurants… It’s everyone.”
Felkins said teachers face an increased workload as they take on more classes and address learning losses that occurred during the pandemic.
“Our test scores statewide have just plummeted,” said Felkins, who teaches eighth grade history. “Eighty percent of my class doesn’t meet grade level, so you really end up having to modify your curriculum to meet the needs of the students.”
She added teachers have to work hard to keep the students interested.
“You never want bored students because that can lead to behavioral issues,” Felkins said.
The district and school leaders said an obstacle in recruiting qualified candidates is the difficulty of becoming a teacher in California, in conjunction with the salaries.
“For the amount of education that is required to be a teacher, the pay is not comparable to other professions,” Wilcox of Tres Pinos Elementary said, noting that teachers need a bachelor’s degree, post-graduate work and other credentialing tests and assessments. “I was in school for eight years. For what you are paid, you can go into a different profession and put in less effort and come out with more reward.”
The state continues with efforts to bring more teachers into the workforce, including Senate Bill 765. Introduced in February, the bill would provide financial incentives for prospective teaching candidates and for retired educators to reenter the classrooms. The California Student Aid Commission also offers the The Golden State Teacher Grant Program that awards students enrolled in teaching programs up to $20,000 dollars in financial aid.
A quick search of the California legislature website on bills proposed regarding teachers yields 169 results, ranging from bills addressing retention and recruitment to teacher residency apprenticeship programs.
Felkins said teaching does not appeal to college students because of the wages, industry demands and long hours.
“Why would people work so hard in college and just become a teacher and not be able to live the American dream?” she said.
College age students may not currently be drawn to teaching but Felkins said she remains a teacher because she cares about her students.
“I choose to work with children because I love working with them. They are funny, they are quirky and unique. They just need someone in their life to guide them and help them,” Felkins said.
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