Florida bill would tackle teacher turnover

The Florida Department of Education would be required to determine the annual cost of teacher attrition and its effect on student achievement, and some districts would have to submit plans for improving attrition rates, under a bill filed by state Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie.

HB 355 would also require that Florida parents be informed of their school's turnover rate. And it would set up a new state program, the Florida Teacher Induction Initiative, to offer more support to new teachers.

"When you constantly have different teachers coming in, it affects education," said Kiar, the Democrats' point man on education issues in the House. "I think we have a crisis in retaining our teachers. I know they don't make ends meet."

Some national estimates say that 50 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. One study put the annual cost at $7 billion a year.

Under the bill, districts that don't show improvement in the retention of new teachers in D and F schools would have to submit improvement plans to the state. It's not clear from the bill if "retention" includes teachers transferring from one school to another, something that plagues many high-poverty schools.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Comments

[publicschoolteacher]

I was going to reply, then I read Fed Up's post. It was perfect!

[Pat Connolly]

Fortunately, this was the fate of this ill-considered idea. "Died in PreK-12 Policy Committee on Saturday, May 02, 2009 12:00 AM"

I know, next session they can try another approach. Require all teachers to remain at their jobs until the school board releases them. They could then cut taxes by reducing teacher pay to minimum wage. Yeah, I know you're probably thinking, "isn't involuntary servitude illegal?" Of course it is, but since when has that ever stopped the Floriduh Legislature?

[Chrisitine]

The hours a good teacher works (to actually reach all of the students in each lesson, do all the paperwork, planning, phone calls, conferences, and extra projects the schools puts on them including mandatory classes outside of school, presentations, committees, night events, the list goes on and on, ... we work so many hours that that seems like all I ever do, I have NO personal life.

[teacher]

In a highly politicized work environment where the managemnt (administrators) in fear. The outcome is dump on the teachers and support personnel. As a teacher, I rarely had a student situation that affected my outlook on the proffession. The lack of support and reactive management style many administrators use has always been a big problem for many of my collegues and me. Of course I am excluding the sychophant teachers that do whatever any person of authority tells them to do without question, regardless of any employment contracts and relevancy to best practices for students.

[Jo]

Most new teachers are overwhelmed in the environment of an impoverished school. Even when the administration is fully supportive (which is becoming more and more rare) the task is still daunting. The more experienced teachers who have proven themselves get the nicer suburban neighborhood schools. What is left is mostly "newbies" or individuals whose reputation prevented them from something better. Oh yes, the corporate-like, bullying mentality that has surfaced in many school districts doesn't help the situation either.

[Fed Up Reading Teacher]

Wow...so they really want to know why teachers leave? Bull! They just want another way to shut down the low-income schools (AKA D & F) and shuttle to them to private schools where they can hide the fact they STILL aren't learning.

They know why teachers leave: little respect, dwindling pay,and a society that expects teachers to raise their students, except of course when they don't agree--then Off with their heads! Teachers leave because they are tired of being expected to provide tissues, hand sanitizer, band-aids, feminine hygiene products, pencils, paper, clothing and notebooks for their students and in my case, to wash their students' clothes. Teachers leave because we are treated as an entry level position. Teachers leave because once we have our own families and that fresh-faced college graduate enthusiasm wears off and we realize just how much (or little) society values us, we recognize that $38k isn't going to buy us a house in the neighborhood we teach in.

The list could go on and on....but trust me, the students are really at the bottom of the list of reasons we leave. I could teach a million years with the rudest kids possible if I knew that just one person in society actually valued what I did and didn't look down on me for "teaching instead of doing" or being some union hack with a cushy "part-time" job with "excellent" benefits that deserves to have her private, personal life being pried into--even the name and address of my dependents.

Good luck to the students of Florida...you will need it.

FINALLY! It is about time we looked at some statistics pertaining to teachers' retention rates.

I hope they are careful not to step on personal freedoms such as raising families of their own. I don't think we can have this discussion without talking about family friendly workplaces. Thank goodness Obama is in office when this conversation comes up-protecting women's rights in the workplace will be an important aspect of this conversation.

Teacher turnover is very different from family leave. I hope they recognize that.

[redisni]

This is an excellent initiative. Any private company that has high turn-over is poised to failure or zero-growth. Same principle applies to schools. Administration should be aware of this, but administrators mostly are just failed teachers, that decided to make more money, with little knowledge of the science of management.

rep kiar rocks

I'm on year 6 and already plotting my way out. It's not because of the kids, though. It's everything else. Not worth it to stay!

[flateacher]

4:00, you are right on the money.

I actually hope they do this because it would prove that teachers are leaving due to lack of respect, administrative support, and money. Floridians should know how much money is wasted on induction programs when they have to be repeated time after time since so many teachers don't stay longer than 5 years. My school is like a revolving door.

Teachers go into teaching because of idealism? For whom do you speak?

Man do I love Marty Kiar

[jwt]

Teachers go into teaching because of idealism--hoping to make a difference in lives--affect the future...
They don't expect big bucks.
Working conditions and respect go a long, long way --of course, more bucks would be equitable to the importance of the job.

Teachers leave the profession because there never treated like professionals. Just maybe the old saying is true you get what you pay for!!
After five years there so far upside down in student loans and the general cost of living what choice do they have?

Are you kidding me???