“Why is there a teacher shortage?”

How are teachers supposed to stay in a career that doesn’t support them?

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Ally Peterson

It’s hard to hire teachers when the cost is higher than the reward.

Ally Peterson, Editor

In recent years, there’s been a teacher shortage in the United States. Much of this is due to the recession during COVID-19, which then resulted in tax cuts and salary cuts. This caused a wave of teachers nationwide to either be laid off or leave the profession altogether. This has left a need for new teachers in schools. The average teacher at a public school will make as low as $37,000 per year, with numbers on the higher end reaching $76,000 a year. This is startlingly low in comparison to the average cost of going to an in-state college for a four-year degree, which according to educationdata.org averages around $25,000 per year, or nearly $108,000 for all four years. Becoming a teacher with these statistics is simply not appetizing to new high school graduates. First, we needed students to stay in school, but now, we need teachers to stay in school, which will require change.