'Teacher employment gap' continues to grow

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.7% in September, the lowest level since 1969, according to figures released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The economy added 134,000 new jobs. However, some of the most important jobs in the country are either failing to be funded or to be filled.

The September jobs report also gave insight to the “teacher employment gap” — the gap between the increased number of students in the public school system and the number of teachers who care for, instruct and manage them.

Nationally that shortfall has now grown to more than 389,000, according to a report released by the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive nonprofit think tank.

“State and local government austerity since the recession has contributed to a significant shortfall in education employment,” it said. “There are still 116,000 fewer public education jobs than there were before the recession began in 2007. If we include the number of jobs that should have been created just to keep up with growing student enrollment, we are currently experiencing a 389,000 job shortfall in public education.”

“The consequences of this employment gap", the report adds, "are clear: larger class sizes, fewer teacher aides, fewer extracurricular activities, and changes to curricula." In addition, "as made clear by the numerous strikes over the last year, teachers suffer from subpar wages and working conditions.”

An earlier paper by the Institute spoke of a "crisis in teacher pay". "Effective teachers are the most important school-based determinant of student educational performance," the paper said, yet annual median salaries for teachers compared to other careers with comparable entry standards (a bachelor's degree) continue to fall : the median national salary for an elementary school teacher lagging 23% behind that of an accountant, but a whopping 75% behind that of a health services manager.

In Oklahoma this translates to a chilling reality. As Jennifer Palmer of Oklahoma Watch noted, "Classrooms across the state are being staffed by a teacher who isn’t fully trained or prepared."

In just three months, Oklahoma's education officials have already given emergency certification to 2,153 teachers - emergency certification indicating staff who haven’t obtained certificates in the subject they will teach – already surpassing the record from all of last school year.

“We have warned for the past three years of this coming crisis,” said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister recently. “Our children are paying the price of having teachers who are untrained.”

(Image : J Pat Carter/ Getty Images)