States call in the National Guard to mitigate school staffing shortages

[KILZ FILLZ]

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/states-call-in-the-national-guard-to-mitigate-school-staffing-shortages?fbclid=IwAR112cOrtzrAHISLw6TtvoWBQ7MzVX3Pe5iwMb-wsxffj3Gm4sN2kDtMqfw
 

 

This winter, New Mexico became the first state to activate the National Guard to help fill in and teach at schools. Even though the pandemic has eased considerably, there were more than 50 National Guard troops working as substitutes across 27 school districts in the state this week.
 

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Dr. Cindy Sims:

Across the nation, not just in New Mexico, education systems are realizing a shortage of staffing. And it's been happening pre-COVID.

And when we got our National Guardsmen in January, it was some just-in-time help that we needed.

 

SPC. Simon Hammond:

We all received text messages from our unit readiness officers. And we're just like, oh, man, just loads of messaging backwards and forwards, everyone in the unit like, oh, man, they're really going to do this? Really going to send us to a school? These guys are crazy.

 

Adriana Flavian:

When we first heard that the National Guard were going to be asked to be substitutes, obviously, some teachers were very apprehensive. It was something out of a dystopian novel.

 

Dr. Cindy Sims:

This is just a substitute with a different — a different attire on. Lieutenant Colonel Corona takes lesson plans home, reviews them the night before. She's very well-prepared. She is fully licensed, qualified, background check. So, she just — she does a phenomenal job. And it allows us to provide that continuity and consistency for our kids in person.

 

***
 

Amna Nawaz:

Now, while some states used National Guard to backfill in other ways, like school bus drivers, New Mexico appears to be the only state to use them in the classroom. But teachers shortages are an issue around the country.

 

Becky Pringle is the president of the National Education Association, which represents three million educators and is the largest labor union in the country.

 

Becky Pringle, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thanks for making the time.

 

I just want to get your reaction to what we saw and heard there, teaching staff and Guard troops clearly making the best of the situation, but, if we see another surge, if shortages worsen, do you see more states doing that?

 

Becky Pringle, President, National Education Association:

It's good to be with you, Amna.

 

As I listen to the educators and the superintendent talk about the fact that this is not a new problem, this is chronic, and we have been seeing the rise in educator shortages, our teachers, nurses, counselors, bus drivers, food service workers, all of them, for almost a decade-and-a-half.

 

And so we have been sounding that alarm.

But, as with everything else, COVID-19 exacerbated that with the increased number of educators who were leaving the profession, as well as the overwhelmed, the lack of educators in the classrooms.

 

So we're not surprised that there are people like the Governor Lujan Grisham who were looking at short-term solutions, which we know are absolutely essential to fill those gaps. But we have to be looking long-term, because this issue is not going away. And it will worsen if we don't do something about it.

[KILZ FILLZ]

[Mercer]

People here are unable to adapt to early hyper inflation. Learned a lot just from the fam in Argentina, watching them crushing 3 businesses down there in a continuous  hyper inflation environment. If you raise prices within reason of the market, people will generally pay them if you're providing value. Then you up current employee's wages initially, tell them to keep to themselves as they're the only ones getting this size increase, same thing with new hires. You won't need to increase wages a couple of months later or face labor shortages. Rising market wages will quietly surpass your initial higher wages, while that initial pump stay fresh in employee's minds. People tend to negotiate harder for initial wages, and much softer for raises if they like their work environment. Inflation is profitable if you willing to bet on it continuing to ramp up.

 

Not that I don't blame most of the issues with teachers here on inflation. By granting a monopoly to the teacher's union, they've eliminated any need for competition. A state monopolized Union only collects more dues when it's adding more dues paying members after maxing out dues. Zero incentive at that point in upping the teacher's wages, so that's the only thing they ever push for. Collective bargaining contracts that include hiring more teachers, completely disregarding wage increases which is why teacher per student ratios go up, quality stays low, and wages for one of the most important jobs are so fucking low and nobody does anything about it.

 

Not saying the Union hasn't pushed for cost increases reflected in increased student to teacher ratios, but the fact is public school education currently costs 80% more than the average private school education. It's also why the caliber of teachers in private schools are far superior. People in government do want to help teachers, but are helpless even with pushing for and achieving budget increases. They don't want to fix it by giving tax credits for private schooling because it destroys indoctrination, puts the focus back on education itself, and strips them of any power to micro-mange, thus avenues to profit themselves personally in the education sector.

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Mercer

[KILZ FILLZ]

@Mercermy experience has been coworkers openly talking about their pay. Maybe it’s a cultural thing in Argentina where they keep it to themselves if asked to by the boss? 
 

I used to know a few teachers and I would never want that job. Most schooling and least respect with shit pay. All bad
 

 

[KILZ FILLZ]

Probably sounds dumb, but I never considered private schools being non union. I would like to see how their retention rate compares to public school teachers. Seems like the private schools can’t let people go when they ask for a pay increase much easier. Then hire in a cheaper replacement. 

[Mercer]

15 minutes ago, KILZ FILLZ said:

@Mercermy experience has been coworkers openly talking about their pay. Maybe it’s a cultural thing in Argentina where they keep it to themselves if asked to by the boss? 
 

I used to know a few teachers and I would never want that job. Most schooling and least respect with shit pay. All bad

 

 

Teachers suffer from artificially suppressed wages because of the Union, everyone expects lower wages because they do share their pay with each other. This market wide low wage transcends public/private teaching wages.

 

I say this as someone who's generally pro union (minus their involvement in gov/politics). The teacher's union needs it's monopoly status broken (the state currently helps prevents this), and allow individuals districts to create their own, or join other unions. Worker's can't really organize with parasitic unions backed by the state as an obstacle. The level of corruption in my own union was disheartening but tolerable because we made great money/benefits. 

[KILZ FILLZ]

Yea I had a similar experience with my union. Very grateful for what it provided me, but now that I’m away from it I realize it’s mostly there to protect the fuck ups.
 

i guess I just never really considered the teachers union is national.. it does seem like something that should be broken down by district. 

[Mercer]

I got a big raise to leave the union when I moved to Colorado, and for a minute hated the Union back in NYC for that very reason. Being held back to earn the same pay as a fuckup. The longer that bad taste wore off, the more I realized there's actually some heavy value to that. Might have been a negative for me personally, and my company, but overall was a net positive considering for every good tech, there were at least 10 fuckups, and 3 of them def wouldn't have a job if it weren't for a Union. In short, those guys needed it way more than I didn't.