Many states are scrambling to try to rectify their dwindling population of teachers. According to the United States Census Bureau, there has been a decrease of over 12 percent in college students majoring in education. An additional problem facing the education community is the eight percent of teachers who leave the profession before retirement  To encourage people to pursue education majors, California reversed a law that banned education as a major in the state while Virginia enacted emergency regulations allowing public universities to offer the major. These are both appropriate actions. They seek to encourage people to gain the training necessary to lead a classroom.

The inappropriate response that many states have enacted is to lower teacher requirements in order to encourage people to enter the field. In Arizona, Governor Doug Ducey signed legislation that passed the responsibility of determining teacher certification onto school districts. According to azcentral., after this was signed, over 1,000 unqualified teachers were given emergency certifications, allowing any person with a bachelor’s degree to forego almost all other state requirements and become a teacher. Although the shortage is a major issue, it is not right to lessen the efficacy of students’ educations by placing undereducated teachers into their classrooms. Allowing districts to determine qualifications is essentially allowing them to cut corners in order to fulfill their needs. Rectifying the errors that were made in creating the current school system should never come at a student’s expense.

There are various solutions that could encourage more people to fill the vacant teaching positions that do not involve handing out jobs to unqualified candidates. In fact, data from the Learning Policy Institute suggests that teachers who enter the profession inadequately prepared are two and a half times more likely to leave during their first year, making any progress made by hiring unqualified teachers incredibly temporary. The deficit is, in part, caused by teachers leaving due to salary issues. A chart created by axios shows that in 39 states, teachers were given lower salaries in 2016 than in 2010, once adjusted for inflation. Though people may want to teach, they also need a sustainable income. School budgeting is a complicated process that varies by state, but teachers, 94 percent of whom spend their own money on classroom supplies according to the US Department of Education, should not have to be concerned about their salaries. Stop giving large corporations tax breaks. Teachers should not be punished just because they decided to work in the public sector.  Redistribute some of the money allocated to the military. There is money already available within the government budget if we prioritize education.

Educators are some of the most valuable people in our society; they should be treated as such. Pay them more. Education drastically changes the future of our nation and those within it. When the quality of teachers decreases because we are driving qualified educators away and consequently have to mass hire people who have no business being in the classroom, our nation’s children suffer. We suffer. The adults who decided to teach and consequently have shaped our lives in and out of the classroom suffer. The process of fixing the teacher deficit will not be easy, but the current methodology is far from acceptable. We deserve better.