A March 2022 survey from the National Education Association (NEA) showed that more than half of teachers (55%) intend to leave the profession earlier than they planned, and that was before the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“90% of teachers are saying they’re really thinking about what happened in Uvalde and what that means for them,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “It doesn’t mean they’re going to leave. It doesn’t mean they’re going to stay. But the impact has been huge across the country.”
The NEA survey showed an increase in the percentage of teachers likely to retire early. (Chart: NEA)
In response to the devastating shooting, a bipartisan group of 20 senators recently agreed on framework for a gun safety bill that would include enhanced background checks for those under 21 purchasing guns, funding for mental health and school safety, and state grants for red flag laws.
Though he said the bill isn't as progressive as he'd like, President Biden pledged to sign it into law, stating it would be the "most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades.”
“What [teachers] really want is they want us to do the common sense gun safety precautions that are being talked about in Washington right now, that Governor Hochul did in New York state with the legislature just a few days ago, that GOP Governor Baker did in Massachusetts a few years ago, what the overwhelming number of Americans — Republican, Democrat, Independent — want us to do: They want something done," Weingarten said.
Some conservative politicians have proposed increasing police presence in schools or even arming teachers. Weingarten said she is strongly against this idea.
A group of local public school teachers from nearby schools use rubber training guns as they practice proper firearms handling during a teachers-only firearms training class in Sarasota, Florida January 11, 2013. REUTERS/Brian Blanco ·Reuters Photographer / reuters
“We need to keep our schools safe for our kids and for our teachers,” she said. “They can’t be human shields. They got enough that they have to do. We have to keep guns out of schools.”
Weingarten was also adamant about the fact that the common sense gun safety rules she’s hoping for are not “about taking away guns from responsible gun owners.”
“The smearing of saying that we’re going against the Second Amendment, that’s not anything that I’ve heard from the majority of both my members and the conversations around the country,” she said.
'Can we get the politics out of the classroom?'
There has been a profound teacher shortage in the U.S. for quite some time, and gun violence isn’t the only factor.
Politics in general have made its way into the classroom, affecting how many teachers communicate with their students.
For example, in states like Texas and Florida, many books are banned from being taught while critical race theory — the understanding of America’s history as seen through the lens of historical racism — is currently prohibited from being discussed in the classroom in 17 states, according to Education Week.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks during 'March for Our Lives', one of a series of nationwide protests against gun violence, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 11, 2022. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts ·Joshua Roberts / reuters
“Can we get the politics out of the classroom?” Weingarten said. “Teachers and parents want to work together. Trust us to actually teach kids what we need to do instead of banning books and censoring every word we say. That would help.”
According to Weingarten, some teachers are unsure over whether or not they’re allowed to explain to their students what the racial motivations were behind the shooting in Buffalo, New York.
“How do I not teach about the Buffalo manifesto that kid did?” she said. “If you trust us enough to hold guns, trust us enough to do the stuff that we have been trained to do.”
The coronavirus pandemic has been a component of political debate as well, and trickled down to teachers as many states debated whether or not to resume in-person learning. According to the NEA report, 91% of educators cited pandemic stress as a reason why they’re considering another profession. Additionally, there are 600,000 fewer teachers in the U.S. today than prior to the pandemic.
Bryson Dalrymple, a teacher, stands in a classroom at the Utopia Independent School on May 26, 2022 in Utopia, Texas. (Photo by ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images) ·ALLISON DINNER via Getty Images
“We have about 300,000 teachers who actually leave every single year, many before retirement,” Weingarten said. “It’s not just about new teachers. It’s also a retention issue … we need to retain teachers. And we’re facing a retention crisis as well as a recruitment crisis.”
Low pay isn’t helping the situation. The average entry level teacher salary in the U.S. is $41,388, according to Salary.com, as of May 2022. And according to Weingarten, for teachers who have been in the profession for a while, their pay hasn’t kept up with inflation or being able to raise a family.
"So it's really a matter of, what are the conditions?" she said. "Do we have low enough class sizes? Do we have the guidance counselors and the social workers that we need to help with emotional social issues? Do we have the pay that's commensurate with being able to raise a family? Can we deal with student debt?"
