Editor-in-Chief
As North
Carolina’s population increases, so do the concerns about the state’s school
systems. The population boom now makes
North Carolina the tenth most populous state in the country, with almost
9,800,000 occupying the state. Quality
teachers are needed to fill teacher positions and to further the state’s education
goals. For the 2014-2015 school year
North Carolina has struggled with the shortages of math teachers in grades
9-12, science teachers in grades 6-12 and special education teachers in grades
K-12. North Carolina has had these specific
teacher shortages since the 2011-2012 school year. “To help our schools hire the teachers they
need now, we are moving to expedite teacher certification, recognizing an
individual’s experience and subject expertise,” says Governor Pat McCrory
during his State of the State address.
“We want, and should be encouraging, accomplished people who want to
join the teaching profession. The bureaucracy should never, never, stand
between their talents and our children.”
The
country is surrounded by the same teacher shortage problem. Other states have a wider variety of teacher
shortages; for example, in North Dakota, teachers are currently needed in areas
such as art, science, math, and more specialized areas such as special
education programming, information technology, and career clusters. So, what’s the cause of the shortage?
Teacher
pay might be the cause of the problem, but other factors have come into play as
well. Conditions that teachers face in
the classroom every day are not deemed enjoyable. New programs and new curriculum can be added
from year to year, as well as an increased number of students in
classrooms. Another factor is the aging
workforce in education. More and more
teachers are retiring every year, and school systems are struggling to find
teachers with the qualifications to fill these teaching positions due to fewer
undergraduates majoring in education. From
2010 to 2013 the UNC system undergraduate enrollment in teacher education
programs dropped 17 percent, from 15,000 undergraduates to 12,400. Other North Carolina colleges saw the drop
too; Appalachian State saw a 23 percent decline over a five year span while
Western Carolina University saw a 15 percent drop.
On
March 5, Governor McCrory pitched a $21.5 billion budget to start July 1. Education is a big focus of McCrory’s in the
budget plan with 56 percent of the budget going towards education. McCrory still plans to follow through on his
promises for the teacher starting pay, raising it from $33,000 to $35,000. The budget plan is not official yet; it must
still go through legislative leaders in order to finalize and build the
plan. McCrory will get the final say in
the budget plan later this year.
