New Jersey’s Teacher Shortage is Nothing Less than A Crisis

 “Let’s be clear, the challenges created by the current staffing shortages are systemic and have been exacerbated by the pandemic, but they existed before it began.”

– David Aberhold, Superintendent for West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District and President of the Garden State Coalition of Schools.

Here is something we all know – serving as a public-school teacher is really, really hard.

But let’s face it – it’s even worse to be a public-school teacher in New Jersey….

Be a teacher in New Jersey, where you can pay the highest union dues in the Country!

Be a teacher in New Jersey, where your dues have made your union leaders millionaires! 

Be a teacher in New Jersey, where your dues fund tens of millions of political ads each year!

Does not sound that appealing, does it?

Well, guess what?  The more facts you have, the worse it gets….so dig into the latest Report by the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey.

While there are many reasons behind this mess, New Jersey sure is not making it easy on ourselves…or our teachers.

In latest Report we showcase this crisis and try to find needed ownership and various causes that we all must understand.

In New Jersey…

• New Jersey public school employment system has not changed much in 50 years.  It is an antiquated, union-dominated bureaucracy that does not provide what younger job seekers demand – mobility and flexibility.
• Teachers are forced to join the NJEA and have the highest-in-the-nation dues withheld from their paychecks, most of which go to the NJEA to be spent on rich compensation for the leadership and politics.
• And perhaps most of all, new teachers in New Jersey are especially disadvantaged by the current system, which benefits older, career teachers.  Pay scales are rigidly fixed and back-end-loaded.  Young teachers are laid-off first regardless of teaching success.  Pensions, seniority and tenure generally do not travel with teachers if they change jobs or locations.

Crisis is a word we hear a great deal in New Jersey when it comes to our education system – whether it be inequity, the school-to-prison pipeline, learning loss, the digital divide…and now our teacher shortage.

Whether we like the facts or not, they are facts….and they can’t be ignored.  If potential teachers are looking at these facts before they take a job in New Jersey, we should as well.

So, we ask you to please read the latest report and get educated on the facts by clicking here.

As always, every assertion is factual, researched, and footnoted.