JANUARY 15, 2019 BY MATT LONG (South Carolina Radio Network)
A new report warns South Carolina is losing thousands of teachers at the same time its colleges and universities graduate only a fraction of potential new hires to replace them.
The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA) said in a report released Monday that 5,300 teachers left public schools entirely last year. A disproportionate number had been on the job for less than five years.
“We do see a large number of them getting in and feeling like they’re just not able to stay in that job, for one reason or another,” CERRA communications coordinator Todd Scholl said. “A lot of times that just has to do with the fact they’re not always given the tools or support that they need.”
The report said approximately 7,300 teachers did not return to their positions for the 2018-19 school year, a ten percent increase from the previous school year. Of that, 27 percent got another public school teaching job, while the remaining 5,300 either took a private school job or left the profession entirely. Meanwhile, only 1,600 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree eligible to teach in South Carolina, according to the state Commission on Higher Education.
Scholl said the gap and worsening turnover means districts are increasingly hiring from outside of South Carolina or even outside the United States for replacements. But 600 vacancies still existed across all South Carolina schools when the academic year began in August, meaning larger class sizes for the remaining teachers.
“That’s happening in some districts where they just can’t find people to fill vacancies, the class sizes for existing teachers just gets larger,” Scholl said. “Or these veteran teachers are having to spend so much time mentoring new teachers.”
The study did not examine reasons for the departures, beyond noting that 26 percent were retirements. However, 34 percent of first-year teachers did not return for the 2018-19 school year. Nearly a third of all departures were teachers with under five years of experience.
