The Maine Department of Education just announced it will spend $1 million on advertising to recruit teachers from other states. Let’s take a minute to consider the logic behind that approach.

States across the country have unfilled teaching positions. Where are these excess teachers going to come from? Have teachers around the nation had their eye on moving to Maine, just waiting for someone to ask them?

Where shall we recruit from? Between 2021 and 2022, Massachusetts had an average teacher salary of $89,538; Connecticut, $81,185; Vermont, $62,866; New Hampshire ,$62,783; and Maine, $58,757. Maine has the lowest pay of all the New England states and is 34th nationally in teacher pay. This year, the Maine Legislature had an opportunity to provide better pay for Maine teachers – and it declined to do so.

Every state in New England also spends significantly more on students’ education. In 2020, Maine spent $17,584; New Hampshire, $20,131; Vermont, $23,575; Massachusetts, $21,132; and Connecticut, $24,875, on average, for each student.

We are inviting teachers to come to Maine to be underpaid in schools that are underresourced. 

Will the Department of Education practice truth in advertising and tell the teachers they are recruiting that they may lose their Social Security benefits and any widow/widower benefits from their spouses if they take a teaching job in Maine? Maine is one of several states where teachers are penalized by the Windfall Elimination Protection and the Government Pension Offset. Will the department let them know that the Maine teachers’ pension fund was raided to pay state debt during the LePage administration, leaving many retired teachers struggling to make ends meet? 

The Portland Press Herald reported last week on the failure of Maine’s early childhood program for Mainers with disabilities. Child Development Services is failing to prepare students for entry into school. Its staff is severely overworked and underpaid. Each of these children will suffer from the failures of the Department of Education. The classrooms they enter will need more resources to meet those students’ needs.

In the last two years, Maine has seen record numbers of teachers leaving the profession – teachers who in other times might have stayed on for many more years. There is no teacher shortage; there is a recruitment and retention problem.

Why are teachers leaving the profession in droves? Teaching under the conditions brought on by COVID-19 brought a whole new set of stressors to the classroom. Teachers mention a growing lack of support from parents and, in some cases, a downright lack of civility. Too many children come to school unprepared for learning. Teachers spend personal funds to buy supplies for their classrooms. Students arrive without proper clothing and nutrition (more and more schools have their own food pantry). There are unprecedented numbers of homeless students and a greater demand for mental health services. In the middle of an opioid crisis, there are also students who need addiction services.

The Department of Education’s willingness to spend $1 million on advertising rather than use it to improve conditions in Maine’s education system speaks volumes. If it really cared about education in Maine, it would invest the money in Maine students, in Maine teachers and in Maine schools.

A thriving educational system needs no advertising budget. Teachers will flock to it.

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