CEA-Advisor_February-March-2023-issue_no-ballot_web

FEBRUARY – MARCH 2023 CEA ADVISOR 5

Inequitable pay, funding “We’ve struggled with the same issues cropping up nationwide, with high turnover, teacher burnout, and difficulty filling positions because our salary schedule just wasn't competitive with other districts,” says Killingly Education Association President Nicola Able, a high school English language arts teacher. “Our district held a job fair and has tried hard to fill our vacancies, and our board of education recognized that they needed to offer more money to stop teachers from leaving. That was a focal point for our union’s recent negotiation, which was very successful.” “There’s always more than one factor at play when people leave one district for another, but I can tell you that more than a dozen teachers from my school alone recently left for jobs in higher paying districts,” says Fairfield Education Association President Bob Smoler, a math teacher at Warde High School. Neighboring districts where Fairfield teachers have accepted new positions include Westport, Weston, Norwalk, and New Canaan. In nearby Redding, elementary school teacher and local association president Melissa Null, says, “We have many teachers who come from other districts for higher salaries and less trouble.” “I really wish that things were more equitable within my own district and throughout the state,” Batista says. “Every single month, teachers are leaving and taking all their experience with them. They’re leaving for jobs in finance or business or for teaching positions in bordering towns offering more money and a lighter load.”

Piezzo, who teaches math at Plainfield Central Middle School, says her district has encountered similar challenges. “We’re facing a teacher shortage with many remaining openings because teacher salaries are lower here than elsewhere in Windham County,” she says. “Mandates for teachers are the same across the state, but educators in poorer districts have fewer

TOP TEACHERS SHARE WHAT IT TAKES TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN EDUCATORS

At a roundtable with the state’s education commissioner, recent Connecticut Teachers of the Year and finalists talked about financial, practical, and other barriers to the profession and how to remove them. “We’re seriously debating walking away from jobs we love to have a salary that pays for more than just childcare,” said one.

resources and lower pay. Milk and eggs cost about the same in a small, poor community as in a wealthy one, but your earnings are lower, which eventually impacts your retirement. Compensation is one aspect of feeling valued by a community and the state.” Batista notes that smaller class sizes are also a draw for teachers who change districts. “Imagine the difference in workload between having 17 students and 29 students,” she says. “Fewer students translates to less time spent on paperwork, grading, attendance, testing, PPTs, administrative work

related to field trips, and more. Policymakers have to make our field more rewarding.” “Without systemic policy change and major investment in education, teachers will continue to migrate to surrounding towns and neighboring New York for better opportunities for their teaching careers,” says Daly. CEA’s 2023 legislative agenda includes numerous measures to address teacher recruitment and retention. (See below.) Watch for CEA Action Alerts in your inbox and help move these key proposals forward.

CEA’S 2023 LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

Here are some key proposals in CEA’s legislative agenda. See more at cea.org/teacher-priorities .

WHAT DO WE NEED?

WHY DO WE NEED IT?

BETTER TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

• Teacher salaries comparable to other, similarly educated professions • A minimum teacher salary • Tuition assistance, paid student teaching, and tax credits for early educators • Elimination of edTPA

• Beginning salaries for teachers are not comparable to those of similarly educated professionals, and in some districts, new teachers qualify for certain state assistance for low-income residents. • Certified teachers with advanced degrees should not have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. • EdTPA is costly and fails to prepare new teachers for real classroom experiences. • Crowded classrooms and a lack of supports negatively impact students academically and socially and contribute to teacher burnout. • Special education populations are growing, as are student needs. • Uninterrupted teacher prep time is essential to ensure teachers have adequate time to prepare lesson plans and respond to students’ needs. • Children’s educational experiences have eroded over the past two decades, and their anxiety has increased. • Overreliance on standardized tests takes away critical learning time and hasn’t translated into durable academic gains or narrowed achievement gaps. Students in the U.S. are not more competitive globally today than they were a decade ago. • Play is essential to children’s healthy cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development, and the loss of playtime in the early grades because of increased standardized testing has contributed to high levels of childhood anxiety, dysregulated behavior, and school disengagement. • Teachers were treated as essential workers but not rewarded as such. Compensating them acknowledges the risks they faced and unique services they provided during the pandemic. • Two-thirds of Connecticut schools have reported indoor air quality problems. • Nearly a third of our schools lack air conditioning, and even more have HVAC systems rated no better than fair or poor. • Poor indoor air quality adversely affects student and teacher health and performance and can have long term consequences.

IMPROVED TEACHING AND LEARNING CONDITIONS

• Guaranteed planning time • Smaller class sizes • Reduced special education caseloads • Additional supports, including more paraeducators

BETTER STUDENT ASSESSMENT

• Alternatives to standardized tests, including new metrics for measuring student growth • A statewide audit of the dollars and hours spent on standardized testing

PLAY-BASED LEARNING

• Play-based learning in preK and kindergarten • Play-based instructional strategies through fifth grade

PANDEMIC PENSION CREDIT

• COVID-19 service credit acknowledging the work teachers did in the early years of the pandemic

INDOOR AIR QUALITY

• Air quality standards for schools, including minimum and maximum temperatures and humidity levels • Oversight and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with new school indoor air quality requirements • Sustained, long-term funding to help cities and towns with school infrastructure improvements, such as air conditioning installation and HVAC repairs

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