U.S.

The New York Teacher Crunch

July 12, 2001 / 11:01 AM EDT / AP

The nation's much-publicized teacher shortage is being felt keenly in New York, where a record 8,000 new teachers are needed by September.

School officials are recruiting teachers from Italy, Spain, Barbados, Jamaica and Austria and have authorized a $6 million ad campaign to lure teachers to the classroom.

The gap reflects a national trend, but will be especially hard to fill because of its magnitude. The shortage — which amounts to one in every 10 teaching slots — is the largest in city history, school officials say.

"When you talk about 8,000 teachers, that is the equivalent of one of the 10 largest school districts in the nation," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers in Washington. "You're talking about the equivalent of trying to replace Miami."

With more than 1 million pupils and 80,000 teachers, New York's public school system is twice as big as the nation's second-largest, the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The reasons for the teacher shortage are the same here as elsewhere: retirements, rising enrollment and low pay relative to other professions.

Additionally, the AFT's local chapter, the United Federation of Teachers, complains the starting salary of $31,910 is not competitive with that of other districts. The city and its teachers union are negotiating a new contract, but little progress has been made for months.

Schools Chancellor Harold Levy said officials need to hire between 8,000 and 9,000 new teachers by fall, a steep increase over the 5,800 who started in September 2000.

Levy said he has tripled the Board of Education's recruiting staff from about 10 to 30.

Experts say the nation's schools will need to hire 2.2 million to 2.5 million new teachers over the next decade.

Horwitz said there is a "bubble" of teachers who started in the 1960s preparing to retire, "and the people didn't come along in the '70s and early '80s to replace them."

One reason is wider job opportunities for women and ethnic minorities.

"At one time schools had almost a captive market where they could recruit women and minorities to fill teaching positions," Horwitz said. "They've lost that traditional base to draw from."

Some school districts are offering signing bonuses or housing subsidies. Baltimore provides $5,000 home-buying grants to city employees including teachers. The school board in Santa Clara, Calif., voted in 1999 to build an apartment complex for teachers where a two-bedroom apartment would rent for $1,200, about half of market rate.

In New York City, the Board of Education will repay the student loans of new teachers who are filling positions where there are particular shortages.

Two teacher-recruitment ads are in frequent rotation on New York television. One, aimed at stemming the exodus to the better-paying suburbs, features a city schoolteacher speaking dismissively of her friend who "teaches quiet lessons to quiet kids." The other features a youg man recalling his childhood experiences with an uninspired teacher — and how it prompted him to become a "different kind of teacher."

Recruiting abroad is a small but growing part of the package. Last year New York hired 150 teachers from Austria and about 50 from other countries, Levy said. This year he expects to bring 600 foreigners on board.

The Board of Education's Web site is promoting its Italian recruitment drive. Applicants are advised that "some years of teaching experience would be beneficial" and that they will have to support themselves until their first paycheck arrives.