The 2023 Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) Supply and Demand report notes that in the 2022-2023 school year, 95 percent of districts had difficulty filling open teaching positions.
This alarming statistic has been heralded by concerns at the national level. The pool of available teachers has grown smaller. From 2008 to 2019, the number of people completing a teacher education program declined by almost a third. While completion of master’s degree programs in education remains high — almost certainly bolstered by the fact that many public school districts tie master’s degrees to salary raises — completion of bachelor’s degrees are dropping.
Chart source: EducationWeek
The teacher shortage can’t simply be chalked up to a poorly constructed education pipeline. The current system is hemorrhaging with departing teachers. Low compensation, difficult classroom environments, and overbearing administrative policies make teachers feel disrespected and undervalued. The Learning Policy Institute found in 2017 that a staggering ninety percent of open teaching positions are caused by teachers who are leaving the profession entirely. The authors of the study note that “Some are retiring, but about 2/3 of teachers leave for other reasons, most due to dissatisfactions with teaching. Teacher attrition in the United States is about twice as high as in high-achieving jurisdictions like Finland, Singapore, and Ontario, Canada.”
How does Minnesota measure up?
Minnesota schools feel the pressure to find candidates. The 2023 Supply and Demand Report surveyed school districts and found that 98 percent of school districts felt that teacher availability was “somewhat fewer” or “significantly fewer” than five years ago. 84 percent believe that they are “significantly” or “very significantly” impacted by the teacher shortage. While only 53 percent of school districts responded to the survey, such a uniform response from over half of Minnesota’s districts bears concern.
In Minnesota, schools have funds to hire teachers — but many potential new teachers are rejecting the offer. In the 2022-2023 school year, 72.6 percent of school districts had teacher positions that were budgeted for 2022-2023, but were not filled due to lack of qualified applicants. Potential applicants faced a harsh financial truth: in the Minnesota metro area, public and charter teachers holding a Tier One, Two, or Three license average salaries that are less than $50,000 a year. (The highest tier of license available, Tier Four, still averages salaries less than $70,000 across metro public and charter schools.)
Despite the fact that overall school spending continues to increase in Minnesota, the average teaching salary in several counties has actually decreased. Low teaching salaries lead to a deteriorating quality of life for educators and loudly signal a lack of public respect for those public servants completing essential work.
A University of Minnesota Educator Salary study found that
Over one-third of teacher salaries were lower than the basic-needs cost of living for a typical family, even before the rapid inflation of 2021 and 2022… Overall, on average, Minnesota educators must work for 9 years before their compensation equals cost of living for an average family in their county. And on average, an educator must work 36 years before their compensation reaches median family income for their district.”
When a teacher in Minnesota feels that they cannot support themselves or their family on a teacher salary, it should come as no surprise when they leave the profession. Nearly a third of new teachers in Minnesota leave the profession in the first five years.
While Minnesota does provide teachers a salary, a poor salary alone is not enough to convince potential teachers to enter the classroom. Teachers are well-trained professionals who perform essential public services. As we craft our educational system, we must honor the teachers who mold students’ imaginations and foster their future abilities by ensuring that the title of “teacher” is worthy of deep respect. Creative solutions must be found to boost teacher salaries, improve classroom environments, and halt teacher attrition.
