Teacher situation here okay

There is a national shortage of teachers, leaving some districts short of covering all their classrooms.

While current events are creating problems in education, not the least of these problems are politics and financial resources.

That teachers are underpaid is pretty well understood and agreed upon nationally.

Teachers should be paid at least 25% more than they now receive.

Something needs to happen nationally to shut down the vast exodus of teachers leaving.

In order to provide new teaching recruits, we should provide four-year scholarships at universities now turning out teachers so they can begin classroom teaching, not loaded with debt.

Over time this would keep the teacher pipeline full.

Politics has long been a hindrance to education. The state Legislature continues to change how education is funded in this state. Administrators and school boards are constantly having to create new methods of covering their needs.

There have been recent moves by school boards to interfere in educational matters. 

It has taken on an ugly form of deciding, not only what can be taught, but how it can be taught. It has become so bad that in some places they want “slavery” referred to as “involuntary relocation.”

The far right has made a push to fill open school board seats so their philosophy can get a stronger footprint on local education. 

School boards in Texas, Florida and Idaho, along with many others, are now telling educators what books they can have in libraries.

In Texas, some dozens of books are being pulled. In Nampa, Idaho the school board has been pulling books.

In Florida you can’t use the word “gay.”

Can the good old days of book burning be far away?

Teachers have to put up with parenting problems and hear themselves accused of being the cause. Parents who are on teachers’ backs about how their children are doing need only to look into the mirror to see the problem.

Any wonder that teachers are leaving the classrooms in droves?

Locally, all of our classrooms have teachers. Even though it seems like we have had a lot of teachers leaving the district, some are actually coming back.

Teacher funding here has been a problem. It seems that every year or two our school board has to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to stretch dollars for the needed coverage.

School patrons here voted down a much-needed special levy and will face an adjusted special levy later this year.

Don’t people understand that failing our children is not a good option?

I know how difficult it is trying to figure out how to meet the costs of education locally, having served on the school board for 10 years.

We are shortchanging our youth at a time when we should be investing more on their behalf.

Maybe it’s time to support the effort our school board is making and get behind educating our kids.

I do fear we are entering some dark days before things will get better.