Paying Math Teachers More
Posted by Tom on July 26th, 2006Grant Harkness recently questioned the concept of paying math and science teachers more than their peers in other subject areas. His criticism centers around the perceived prioritization of math and science over English in the curriculum.
His arguments misdiagnose the problem: it’s not that Math teachers are more important than English teachers. It’s that they’re scarcer.
Districts have a harder time recruiting and keeping math and science teachers. Utah’s hot job market for scientists and technologists puts these positions in high demand. Teachers are being offered jobs in the private sector with double or triple the salary. In addition to high demand, there is also a supply problem: college students in the sciences are shying away from education degrees for the same reason.
The legislature recognized the problem, and in 2001 authorized the Public Education Job Enhancement Program. (Utah Code 53A-1a-601) The program (PEJEP), provides for signing bonuses (”Opportunity Awards”) and tuition assistance for advanced training (”Advancement Awards”) on a competitive basis to “secondary teachers with expertise in mathematics, physics, chemistry, physical science, learning technology, or information technology,” and is contingent on a four-year commitment to teach in Utah public schools.
Technical fields aren’t the only ones experiencing shortages. Last year, the legislature added special education teachers to the list.
If you’re an educator interested in the PEJEP, contact your district office.
Very good points Tom. We value the hard work of ALL our teachers equally but have vacancies that we can not fill in certain areas. If anyone has other ideas on how to attract more teachers in these areas, now is the time for them to step forward.
It would be interesting to see the data regarding which subject areas are ATTRACTING more teachers and which subject areas are KEEPING more teachers. I would like to have more information to help understand if the shortage areas are front-end or exit problems. I realize that they are probably both but if it is more of one than the other, we should focus our resources where they will benefit the most.
Left by Tim on July 27th, 2006