Graying of America’s Teachers Spurs Hiring Push

Like an ever-growing number of America’s teachers, Joan Regan is getting grayer.

In two years, after 35 years in the classroom, Regan will join the growing ranks of retired teachers. “It’s time for me to pass the torch,” said Regan, who teaches eighth-grade science in San Francisco and wants to spend more time building birdhouses, gardening and studying photography. “Teaching is very intense.”

Forty percent of the U.S. public-school teachers will retire or otherwise leave the profession by the 2003-04 school year, the Education Department reports.

The graying of America’s teachers comes at a time when enrollment is rising dramatically with the children of immigrants and baby boomers. These two trends are creating a keen demand for new teachers, and efforts in California and some other states to reduce class size could mean even more hiring.

“The teachers who are teaching now are going to be instrumental in training,” said Pat Foley, a 30-year veteran of the classroom who retired this year from Lemont Elementary School in State College, Pa.

According to the Education Department:

* An anticipated autumn enrollment of 51.7 million public and private elementary and secondary students will surpass the 51.3 million baby boomers in the class in 1971. And U.S. school enrollment is expected to keep climbing to 55.9 million by the year 2005.

* The public-school teaching force will grow from 2.8 million in 1991 to a projected 3.3 million by 2002. Half the teachers in 2005 will be hired in the next 10 years.

“We had huge hiring in the baby boom years of the ‘50s and ‘60s,” said Linda Darling-Hammond, director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. “By the time we restaff the schools in the next 10 to 15 years, it will be the biggest overhaul of the teaching force ever in our history.”

The pending teacher shortage offers good news and bad news for schools, said Ron Areglado, associate executive director of programs for the National Assn. of Elementary School Principals.

Losing too many veteran teachers at once can leave a school without depth in its teaching ranks, he said. But the retirements also provide an opportunity to infuse the schools with young, exuberant teachers who have a healthy supply of infectious idealism, he said.

Areglado said schools should spend the money saved on retiring teachers’ salaries on professional development for younger teachers. Schools would greatly benefit, he said, if the retirees volunteer to mentor novice teachers.

Two or three decades ago, universities had trouble attracting students interested in education degrees because of low teacher pay and prestige, said Darling-Hammond, an education professor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Since then, the average base salary for all full-time teachers has jumped to $34,153 in 1993-94, up from $26,231 in 1987-88.

Teacher shortages are already so critical that some of the nation’s largest districts have been forced to hire uncertified teachers. A survey released earlier this year of 39 of the nation’s largest school districts cited pressing needs for math, science, special-education, bilingual and minority instructors.

Recruiting New Teachers, a nonprofit organization based in Belmont, Mass., released a study in April that said 77% of the more than 9,000 teacher aides studying to become professional teachers are minorities.

The aides typically live in the urban school districts in which they work, understand the culture of the community and can often figure out the most effective ways to teach these students, the study says.

Other recruitment programs are being targeted at high schoolers, college students, mid-career professionals and victims of corporate or government downsizing:

* A St. Paul, Minn., public school district has one program that recruits local college graduates and offers them alternatives to get certified. Another program offers tuition discounts to minority students who want to become teachers.

* Pittsburgh, Pa., schools’ Grow Your Own Program offers loan forgiveness and support to attract their own students into the field.

* A Georgia State University program designed for people who already hold higher-education degrees allows them to begin a new career in teaching after a year of full-time study.

Interest in the profession also appears to be on the rise.

During the last nine years, Recruiting New Teachers has received more than 1 million calls to its 1-800-45-TEACH hotline mentioned in its public service advertisements.

In addition, the 1995 annual survey of 240,000 freshmen entering 641 institutions conducted by UCLA reveals the highest level of interest in education careers in more than two decades.

They’ll be replacing people like Dorothy Buchanan, who retired in June from Melrose Elementary School in Baton Rogue, La.

“I loved it. I feel like I made a difference,” Buchanan said. “But I’m 65. I came home exhausted every day. My husband said, ‘I want you to quit before you drop.’ ”