Area Public School Officials Say Funds Are Needed to Attract and Retain the Best Instructors


By Beverly Carroll
Monday, April 21, 2003
Chattanooga Times Free Press

Hamilton County Schools need 200 to 300 new teachers a year to maintain a teaching staff of nearly 3,000, according to school officials. 'We recruit year round, and we go to places we did not before,' said Dr. Lonita Davidson, assistant superintendent of human resources personnel.

Dr.Davidson sells Hamilton County’s scenic sights, low housing costs and the school system’s insurance policy. She points out that Chattanooga funds an incentive pay program for certain schools, Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise offers low-interest housing loans, and the Benwood and Osborne foundations help fund continuing education opportunities for teachers.

However, higher starting pay and signing bonuses in other systems are hard to compete against, she said. Hamilton County’s starting teacher pay ranks the lowest in the state among urban districts, and it is lower than in neighboring Bradley County. 'The competition for the number of teachers we need is really tough,' schools Superintendent Jesse Register said.

It’s about to get tougher, according to officials. New federal guidelines on teacher quality combined with teacher shortages and competition from higher paying districts will make filling vacancies an even greater challenge next year, Hamilton County school officials said. The year old No Child Left Behind law requires a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by 2005-06. The Chattanooga Public Education Foundation thinks the community should help the school system meet the challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified teachers, PEF teacher quality director Annie Hall said. 'We want to increase the community’s awareness of this issue and help create the will to do something about it,' Mrs. Hall said.

The PEF will sponsor a series of public forums on teacher quality beginning with one at 6 p.m. tonight in the East Ridge High School cafeteria.

East Ridge parent David Roden said community voices need to be heard. 'As parents we play a big part in how good the teachers are,' Mr. Roden said. 'The issue of noncertified teaching seems to be a pretty big problem, and it should be addressed.'

The PEF will gather comments from the five meetings into a report that will be released later this year, Mrs. Hall said. 'We will develop a strategic plan to report back to the community,' she said. 'We anticipate it will call for changes in current practices.'

Dr. Register said the community needs to be aware of how challenging it is to find and keep good teachers. The bottom line is teacher pay, he said. 'We are at the corner of a three-state region and teachers have the opportunity to shop in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee for jobs,' he said.

The Hamilton County Board of Education last year adopted, but did not fund, a strategic plan to award bonus pay based on student achievement and raise starting teacher pay to $30,000. Dr. Register said it will cost $12 million to fund the plan.

Hamilton County Commissioner Curtis Adams said the commission does not support a tax increase this year. 'The economy is bad and times are tough,' Mr. Adams said. 'Everybody has to cut back.'

School board members plan to ask the County Commission for additional funding this year.
'If we don’t increase starting pay and enhance pay for existing teachers we won’t have any, let alone quality or effective (teachers ),' school board member Debra Matthews said.
Money, in fact, seems to be what talk often comes down to in teacher quality discussions and efforts, even aside from pay issues, according to officials.

State lawmakers approved a mentor program for new teachers, but failed to fund it, as part of former Gov. Don Sundquist’s education improvement act passed during his last term. Federal lawmakers budgeted $2.95 billion for 2003 for grants to help states put a quality teacher in every classroom. The money can be used for recruiting and retention, professional development and reforming teacher certification requirement.

State Rep. Bobby Wood, RHarrison, said improving teacher pay is a top priority for the state, if and when the economy improves. Tennessee relies primarily on sales tax collections, which slow when the economy does, Rep. Wood said.

'I believe if the economy improves that (teacher pay) is the governor’s and legislature’s priority,' he said. 'We can set standards, but our greatest role is to increase funding for salaries.'

Gov. Phil Bredesen, who took office in January, is working to comply with a state Supreme Court order to equalize rural teacher pay with that of urban teachers. He said he will not equalize teacher pay by taking money from urban teachers.

Ooltewah High teacher Pat Coffin said money issues affect teacher recruiting as better paying careers make it difficult for young adults to choose teaching. 'When my sons graduated from college a few years ago they could get jobs as CPAs making more money starting out than I was making as a teacher,' the 17-year veteran said.

Meanwhile, teacher shortages sometimes lead to filling vacancies with less qualified people, said board member Ms. Matthews. 'I’m quite sure at some point when they look around and see they don’t have the number of quality teachers they need for the opening of school there is some stress and panic,' Ms. Matthews said.

Dr. Register said late hiring creates problems. 'Often we are hiring right up to the day school starts,' he said. 'And we can’t always assume we are going to get people who will be successful.'

Just across the state line, North Georgia school districts in Catoosa, Walker and Whitfield counties pay $5,000 to $10,000 a year more, depending on degrees and years of experience. Now that Tennessee is working to equalize rural teacher pay with that of urban teachers, the competition will get worse, area educators said.

'I have a teacher who drives from Bradley County to teach at Birchwood Elementary,' Birchwood principal Ronnelle Blankenship said. 'If the pay is the same or better, why would she continue to make that drive? I’m worried we will lose more teachers.'

Nolan Elementary School principal Ken Barker said the quality of the applicant pool has declined. 'The abundance of quality we had 10 years ago is not there now,' Mr. Barker said. 'And it’s real simple why. Four years ago I called five prospective teachers, and the first four I called said, ‘Sorry, I’m going to Georgia where the money and retirement benefits are better.'

Dr. Register said the district offers an extensive support system for teachers, including administrative support, consulting teachers and staff development. 'But we need incentives to give us a competitive edge. We need a good salary structure,' he said.