{"id":30138,"date":"2023-12-15T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-educators-call-for-change-of-a-system-on-the-brink-of-crisis\/"},"modified":"2023-12-15T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T13:00:00","slug":"colorado-educators-call-for-change-of-a-system-on-the-brink-of-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-educators-call-for-change-of-a-system-on-the-brink-of-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado educators call for change of a system \u2018on the brink of crisis\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Former
Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan visits with young student Mario Corona, age 6, in kindergarten at McGlone Elementary School in the Montbello section of Denver, Thursday May 14, 2015. (Brennan Linsley\/AP Photo)<\/span>Brennan Linsley<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s according to the annual State of Education report from the largest teacher\u2019s union in the state, the Colorado Education Association. The report includes survey results from 1,700 of the association\u2019s 39,000 educators and school staff.<\/p>\n

Nearly 60% said they\u2019re considering leaving the profession in the near future, two-thirds are worried about a shooting at their school and half have struggled with housing costs in the past year.<\/p>\n

What teachers are saying, according to the report<\/div>\n

\u201cI would love to buy a home in a safe neighborhood where I work but have been priced out of the market even though I have 22 years in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to give up my 2-bedroom apartment of 10 years to move in with a friend to maintain my cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t moved the needle very far on some of these consistent themes,\u201d said Amie Baca-Oehlert, high school counselor and president of the Colorado Education Association.<\/p>\n

Though the challenges can feel overwhelming, many educators expressed hope that there are solutions, some of them legislative.<\/p>\n

Staffing challenges<\/div>\n

The survey found that 64% of educators said the classroom teacher shortage in their schools is worse this year than in previous years. Though that\u2019s down from last year\u2019s 85%, the actual shortage numbers have gotten worse, according to the Colorado Department of Education.<\/p>\n

Fifteen percent of all teaching positions and 20% of all specialized positions, including counselors, nurses, and social workers were unfilled at the beginning of the last school year. None of the state\u2019s 178 school districts was fully staffed at the beginning of this school year.<\/p>\n

Four out of five educators say the shortage of counselors, nurses, social workers, and other specialized support positions is worse than in previous years.<\/p>\n

Multiple research studies show high turnover among educators has a negative impact on students.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeachers will have to combine classes or significantly increase their class size, and then that just dominoes. you have more grading, more planning, more conferences,\u201d said Baca-Oehlert.<\/p>\n

Why some are considering leaving teaching, according to the report<\/div>\n

\u201cUnrealistic expectations and constant criticism being the basis of the job\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHigh number of students\/not enough support for behavior issues\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cToo much micromanaging. It\u2019s all about test scores even in kindergarten\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cComplete lack of admin support leading to mental health and safety issues\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDetrimental admin that leads to safety concerns\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNot being heard when we are begging for help\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cInadequate resources to do the job\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

School funding<\/div>\n

Even though average per pupil spending is at its highest level of $10,579, Colorado still spends well below the national average.<\/p>\n

Schools have lost about $10 billion in funding over the last 14 years as a result of a mechanism state lawmakers use to send less money to schools than they were constitutionally required to fund other areas of the state budget. That has had negative impacts on every aspect of schools: pay, the educator shortage, student outcomes, and more, according to the report.<\/p>\n

Decades of underfunding have had an impact on schools, especially rural schools. Lisa Danos, a librarian teacher at Gunnison High School, said her school has had to implement more fees on families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these families cannot afford to pay the cost of these fees, the children aren\u2019t able to take a class or participate in an extracurricular activity or sport,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis has promised to eliminate that debt \u2013 called the budget stabilization factor \u2013 in schools. But even if lawmakers \u201cfully fund\u201d education next year, schools would only return Colorado to 1989 inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending.\u00a0The report notes that in EdWeek\u2019s most recent analysis of school finance systems, Colorado ranked 43rd in the nation and received an \u201cF.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s something we want to applaud that we\u2019re getting out of the budget stabilization factor, we have a long way to go knowing that it\u2019s 2023 and we will be at 1989 funding levels,\u201d said Baca-Oehlert.<\/p>\n

The average teacher salary is about $63,000 a year.<\/p>\n

Collective bargaining<\/div>\n

In Colorado, school districts can but don\u2019t have to engage in collective bargaining or have contracts with unions. The survey shows nearly 90% of respondents said they believe educators should have a statutory right to engage in collective bargaining.<\/p>\n

The average starting teacher salary in districts with collective bargaining agreements is $47,988, which is\u00a0$7,677 more than in districts without union contracts. Districts with union contracts also won pay increases of 14% compared to 11% in districts without agreements. The average starting teacher pay in union districts was 19% higher than in non-union districts.<\/p>\n

Still, the report said Colorado educators make about 37% less compared to other professionals with the same amount of education, citing research by the Economic Policy Institute.<\/p>\n

Politicization of schools<\/div>\n

The recent trends of politicization and culture wars are impacting what some Colorado students are learning.<\/p>\n

More than half of teachers said that politically divisive issues have significantly or somewhat affected their jobs, and nearly a third felt the need to change their curriculum based on the current political climate, including censoring curriculum and eliminating books.<\/p>\n

Of respondents who said they are considering leaving teaching, nearly a third said one of their top reasons for leaving would be attacks on the curriculum.<\/p>\n

Givler said the political attacks in El Paso County on teachers are taking an immense toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re (school board members) calling for parents to come into our classrooms and find us \u2018being bad,\u2019 we\u2019re CORA\u2019d all the time \u2013 our emails \u2013 and it doesn\u2019t feel like there\u2019s any support from the people that should be making the choices for education, whether that\u2019s at the school board level here locally, or with our politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said one group has circulated an extensive list of 1,400 books that the group has deemed obscene or inappropriate dealing with themes relating to LGBTQ people, racism, and segregation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow I would know whether I\u2019m teaching something appropriate or not is best guess, and it\u2019s really disconcerting,\u201d said Givler.<\/p>\n

What teachers are saying, according to the report<\/div>\n

\u201cI have been more cautious about what we discuss in class. This has resulted in not answering some student questions\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI fear repercussions for things I\u2019ve always done that are engaging for students.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Accountability<\/div>\n

As a legislative task force considers improvements to the school accountability system, among educators surveyed, just 4% trust the current system that relies heavily on standardized tests as one indicator.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople feel like they don\u2019t have a lot of autonomy, they don\u2019t have a lot of say over their professional lives,\u201d said Baca-Oehlert. \u201cAnd then that leads to people feeling demoralized and not wanting to stay or enter into the profession.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said educators want more of a voice in the design and implementation of a new accountability system.<\/p>\n

Educators point to research that raises doubts about the heavy reliance on such tests. One reason is research shows a strong correlation between standardized test scores and family income. Teachers are concerned that pressure to boost test scores has narrowed the curriculum and left little time for experiential learning and exploring real-world issues.<\/p>\n

Safety<\/div>\n

Two-thirds of educators are \u201cvery\u201d or \u201csomewhat worried\u201d about a school shooting at their school. About 77% said that if educators were allowed to carry firearms, they would feel less safe \u2013 up from last year.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, educators don\u2019t feel safe in their classrooms. A similar CEA survey in 2022 revealed a third of respondents experienced physical abuse by a student in the two years before taking the survey.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our educators do not feel a sense of safety in our schools,\u201d said\u00a0Nicole Alvarado, a\u00a0high school counselor in the Poudre School District. \u201cIt\u2019s often not a matter of if, but when a threat to your physical safety will be made, and when some of our educators can make more working at their local Costco than they can supporting the next generation., what\u2019s keeping them in this profession?<\/p>\n

Seventy percent of respondents in this year\u2019s survey said students\u2019 mental health had significantly worsened over the past few years. Two-thirds reported a substantial deterioration in their own mental health during the same period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just simply don\u2019t have the staff to support those student needs,\u201d said Baca-Oehlert. \u201cThat weighs a lot on our educators, and I really think we hear that it\u2019s one of the things that impacts their own mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Educators call for more robust mental health support for students. They also made a note in this year\u2019s report about the influence on student behavior that socio-economic stress plays. Skyrocketing housing costs and an underfunded social safety net play a role in exacerbating safety challenges in schools, the report\u2019s authors stated.<\/p>\n

Solutions<\/div>\n

The report outlines several policy solutions for this year\u2019s legislative session. The biggest is enacting Polis\u2019 promise to fund schools to the minimum amount required by the state constitution by eliminating the yearly budget shortfall for schools.<\/p>\n

Educators are asking for lawmakers to develop long-term system-wide solutions to sustainably fund public schools and not make significant changes to the way Colorado funds schools without new revenue to ensure an equitably funded system.<\/p>\n

The agenda also includes supporting bills on protecting educator autonomy and public workers\u2019 rights, preventing book bans and preserving students\u2019 freedom to read, bills to address the housing supply, maintaining and increasing state funding for school breakfast and lunch programs, and stronger gun safety regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some significant challenges that we are facing as educators in public education, but there are solutions,\u201d Baca-Oehlert said. \u201cThere are things that are within our grasp that we can work on together.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Education Secretary Arne Duncan visits with young student Mario Corona, age 6, in kindergarten at McGlone Elementary School in the Montbello section of Denver, Thursday May 14, 2015. (Brennan Linsley\/AP Photo)Brennan Linsley That\u2019s according to the annual State of Education report from the largest teacher\u2019s union in the state, the Colorado Education Association. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,155,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-education","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30138"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}