Politicians take joy out of teaching, YEA chief says
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
A national survey finds teacher job satisfaction at a 20-year low with more teachers reporting they’re likely to leave teaching for another profession within five years.
Some presidents of teachers unions in Mahoning County say they’ve seen heightened dissatisfaction as well.
“For me personally, I would say that’s true,” said William Bagnola, president of the Youngstown Education Association, the union representing city school teachers. “They’ve taken the joy out of teaching.”
He was referring to politicians.
“That’s who controls teaching,” Bagnola said. “Where we are is a result of dirty politicians out there saying their concern is in the best interest of kids. Decisions aren’t made about teaching or kids, or what’s in the best interest of teaching or what’s in the best interest of kids. They’re made based on what’s in the best interest of whatever party is in control.”
“The Met Life Survey of the American Teacher: Teachers, Parents and the Economy” was released earlier this month. It’s an annual report commissioned by MetLife and conducted by Harris Interactive that surveyed public school teachers, parents and students this school year.
It found that 44 percent of teachers today are very satisfied with their jobs, down from 59 percent in 2008, “reflecting a decline to levels not seen since the 1980s.”
Three in 10 teachers, or 29 percent, said they’re likely to leave the profession within the next five years, up 12 points since 2009 and similar to the 1986 level of 27 percent.
It says the economic downturn may play a role in teachers’ lower satisfaction.
Gender, race, years of teaching experience, level of school or proportion of students they teach who are from low-income families had no effect on teachers’ satisfaction.
“However, teachers with low job satisfaction are more likely to teach in urban schools and in schools with larger proportions of minority students,” the survey found.
Ronald Rowe, president of the Poland Education Association, which represents Poland teachers, said area teachers with whom he has spoken are frustrated with budget cuts and the lack of equity in state funding.
“They feel the kids are being shortchanged” Rowe said. “That’s where we get a lot of frustration.”
Most of teachers have entered the profession “because they really, truly want to help kids, and they enjoy what they’re doing, but because of the lack of funding, their hands are being tied behind their back,” he said.
The survey also found that teachers who indicate low job satisfaction are less likely to say they feel secure in the jobs or that they are treated as professionals by the community. Job satisfaction also is related to teachers’ compensation and opportunities for professional development.
“Teachers with low job satisfaction are more likely to be in schools that have experienced reductions in programs, services or staffing in the past 12 months,” it said.
Dave Pavlansky, president of the Boardman Education Association, which represents Boardman’s teachers, said that it used to be when you heard of teacher burnout, it was in high poverty districts. Now districts like Poland and Canfield are cutting programs because of budget cuts.
Boardman didn’t have layoffs but had a $6 million budget gap to close last year.
“We lost about 10 percent of our staff to retirement,” Pavlansky said.
That resulted in some larger class sizes.
A lot of young people go into teaching because they want to help kids, he said. They don’t go into it to be politicians. Senate Bill 5, which would have limited some collective-bargaining rights of public employees, also discouraged young teachers, he said.
“All of the venom that got spewed is making young people I know rethink their future in the profession, and that’s sad,” he said.
Enrollment numbers for Youngstown State University’s Beeghly College of Education may bear that out. The college saw a 13 percent decline in undergraduate enrollment between spring 2011 and spring 2012. The decline in graduate education students was 12.5 percent.
Also frustrating is the loss of public-school dollars to charter schools and the state’s overreliance on standardized tests, Pavlansky said.
“Money gets diverted from the things that make a school system great,” he said, referring to art and music programs.
“Teachers got into teaching to teach, not to be politicians and not to beg the local community for money, to actually teach, and in a lot of places standardized tests are forcing teachers to teach to the test,” he said.