Education

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We need to attract and retain teachers in our schools.  

We have a burnout problem.  Teachers and principals are overworked.  Teachers are being forced to take-on roles that they didn't sign up for, between addressing endless behavioral issues, special educator duties, lunch duty, recess duty, and the list goes on.  Then there's student apathy and the lack of critical thinking skills.  Students refusing to do schoolwork and homework.  All of this contributes to teacher burnout.  

I've interviewed dozens of teachers, special educators, principals, and paraeducators, and not a single one of them agrees that raising teacher pay will help our communities retain teachers.  Many teachers believe that higher pay will hurt education overall by attracting people who are in it only for the money.  

Most teachers agree that addressing student behavioral issues and having better teacher support will lead to higher retention.  Better administrative education policy that supports teachers - will attract teachers. 

I personally know young teachers that are leaving the state because of our lack of economic opportunity and better education policy elsewhere.  In particular, many teachers are flocking to New Hampshire or the southern states.  

In 2018, the average teacher age in Vermont was 43.5, so the same reasons that Vermont's younger population are leaving, are likewise affecting younger teachers.  It stands to reason that addressing the general reasons that young people leave Vermont will address our teacher retention problem to some degree.  

We need to address falling child literacy rates.  

Every public-school teacher I've spoken to agrees, there is a literacy problem among our youth.  Some teachers have stopped having students read aloud in the classroom altogether and just read aloud to the students themselves.  I've noticed this trend myself over the last few years with the youth I interact with.

It isn't a lack of access to books; students have endless access to books.  Between teachers giving away free books, free books in the school libraries, free book programs, churches and community libraries give aways, and normal access to school and community libraries - children are swimming in books.  

It's obviously a complicated issue, as most things are, but it boils down to a couple details.  First, children aren't reading in the home, and neither are their families.  Second, personal devices (i.e laptops, cellular phones, tablets, etc.) are addicting and their widespread usage among youth does not encourage or incentivize reading.  

Children need well modelled behavior from the adult figures in their lives.  Teachers can be good role models, but parents are the best role models.  It is not a surprise that there is a literacy problem when home life doesn't value reading or incorporate it into the daily routine.  Vermont has among the highest literacy rates for adults in the country and we're in the top percentage of per capita for bachelor's degree earners.  Yet, I know very few adults that read, and fewer that encourage their children to read.