TERI isn’t a good solution to SC teacher shortage, but it’s the best one we’ve got

For months, our Legislature has been tied up in a difficult, and at time rancorous, discussion of whether or not to extend the benefits of the Teacher and Employee Retention Incentive program for teachers and other state employees. We’ll get to the details in a moment, but first let’s talk about why getting bogged down in those details risks missing the point.

Children are the state’s — and nation’s — most important resource. Therefore, the professionals who educate them must be valued. Yet we live in a nation where support for education is used when convenient to sway voters but rarely actually supported financially or culturally.

As we tackle South Carolina’s dire teacher shortage, we must discuss how we educate, where we educate and how we prepare people to be educators. But we should not hold our children hostage — or use them as political pawns to promote personal or political agendas — as we work to overcome our challenges.

I see the TERI debate as an example of policymakers using children, parents and schools in a divisive manner to achieve political gains rather than gains for all children. Of course, there are those in our Legislature and business community who are trying to better serve children and improve communities. But I haven’t seen a concerted effort from the left or right to rally and say, “To heck with politics; let’s do what’s right for our children.”

I’m often asked how will we replace the more than 2,000 teachers who are leaving the profession annually. The answer is we won’t.

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I am the teacher South Carolina wants to retain, and I am barely hanging on

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How standardized testing ended my teaching career — and a lot of others

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I do not see a future where we increase the number of people entering the teaching profession — through conventional undergraduate programs, Teach for America, the state’s PACE program or other avenues to certification — enough to offset the educators who are exiting our state’s classrooms. Don’t get me wrong: We must do more to improve the narrative around teaching and encourage more people to enter the profession. But even in the most positive setting, increasing the number of teachers graduating or earning a certificate by more than 2,000 a year is a pipe dream.

If recruiting isn’t the answer, what is? Yes, pay is essential; that should not even be a question. But support, access to high-quality professional development and leadership opportunities within schools also are imperative.

Think of it this way: Whether a teacher changes schools, moves to an out-of-state school or leaves the profession, it costs about $18,000 to replace that teacher. This cost alone should be enough for our state leaders to say enough is enough.

Teacher retention will save the taxpayers big money and improve how well all students learn. As a state, we need to provide professional and emotional support for teachers in the first five years (up to 50 percent leave the profession during those critical years) to help them be successful. The University of South Carolina’s College of Education recently created the Carolina Teacher Induction Program to serve and assist our recent graduates as they begin their careers, but more support for teachers across the state is needed.

Back to the TERI discussion: If we are truly concerned about the welfare of South Carolina’s children, shouldn’t we provide the best possible teachers for them until we can move forward with other plans?

Long term, no, TERI is not a good option. As Cindi Ross Scoppe wrote recently, the state’s retirement system is a mess, and extending TERI would make it worse. It is a failed bandage at best.

But the criticisms of TERI overlook this essential question: What;s the alternative for today? Open the floodgates and let anyone teach?

We have to do better. We have to do more. We have to make sure that no matter what ZIP code children live in, they are getting the best education possible from the highest quality teachers. We can do that. But are we willing to commit to what is necessary? To set aside politics and bickering about liberal and conservative ideologies to achieve what we know is essential for this state?

For me, that means an extension of the TERI program for several years, so we can continue paving a long-term road to teacher support and success.

This story was originally published June 26, 2018 at 9:23 AM with the headline "TERI isn’t a good solution to SC teacher shortage, but it’s the best one we’ve got."