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Wednesday, March 13, 2019
OUSD Administrator denies teacher shortage
ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE
Independent insight into OUSD
a news service of
Orange
Net News
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As OUSD Administrators say there is no teacher shortage in Orange
County
OUSD
needs qualified teachers-but for the first time fails to include the amount in its
published Agenda
In
the Orange Unified School District's March 14, 2019 Agenda, Item 12 A is the
annual vote on the Declaration of Need
for Qualified Educators , but
this year for the first time ever, the
actual report is not included in the agenda.
The
agenda item on Agenda page 3 states:
" copy of the Declaration for the
2019-20 school year is attached"
The
report does not, as in all previous years, follow the agenda description. The
following page 4 begins the next agenda item.
Every
year California requires school districts to file a declaration with the state
called the Declaration of Need for
Qualified Educators . The document must be filed before the state
issues permits for non-qualified employees to teach in that school district.
Currently,
California is in the middle of a teacher shortage.
Every
year, the Orange Unified School District Administration has included the required
declaration as part of the March Agenda with the full declaration that is to be
filed included with the Agenda Item.
Every
year until this year.
In
the March 8, 2018 Agenda, the report showed 26 positions were reported on the Declaration of Need for Qualified Educators .
The failure to include the Declaration of Need for Qualified Educators comes on the heels of OUSD Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Ernie Gonzalez announcing that Orange County does not have a teacher shortage.
Gonzalez
reportedly made the pronouncement at the March 6, 2019 Superintendent's Forum. The monthly meeting presents reports from
OUSD Superintendent Dr. Hansen and Administrators to staff and teachers from
across the district and answers questions. Sources at last week's meeting
report that Assistant Superintendent Gonzalez in answering a question about
OUSD being competitive in recruiting teachers during a teacher shortage
declared that Orange County was not experiencing a teacher shortage like the
rest of the state. He reportedly offered
no data to back up his assertion.
Gonzalez's
remarks were a big departure from now the now retired OUSD Assistant
Superintendent for Human Resources Ed Kissee. Over the past two years, Kissee
has acknowledged and worked on addressing OUSD's response to the statewide
teacher and substitute shortage.
The
new assertion from the OUSD Administration that there is no teacher shortage comes
as OUSD is one of the few Orange County Districts that have failed to reach
contracts with its two employee groups.
The
OUSD Personal Reports (included with
each Board Agenda) show that for this school year-from August 2018 until this
month-53 separations of Certificated
staff members have taken place with three months left until the end of the
school year.
Long
standing data of course shows that all of California and the nation has been in
a multi-year long teacher shortage. In
California, that shortage has been exasperated by the cost of living,
skyrocketing housing costs, baby-boomer attrition and an exodus of qualified
teachers moving out of the state.
For more information
The
Stanford University and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) September 2018 Getting Down to the Facts II research brief ( a follow-up to the original 2007 paper) lays out the seriousness of the problem:
"California is experiencing one of
its most severe teacher shortages in two decades. Budget cuts and layoffs
resulting from the recession contributed to a steep decline in the number of
teachers in California, falling from a high of 310,362 teachers in the 2007-08
school year to 283,836 four years later.
"Recent efforts, including
Proposition 30 and the Local Control Funding Formula, which, respectively,
raised taxes for public education and transformed the state’s school finance
method, have helped to regrow California’s teacher workforce. However, with
sharp decreases in the supply of new teachers, there are still not enough
qualified teachers across subject areas in many schools and districts to meet
California’s staffing needs."
That
Stanford/PACE research brief clearly
spells out the dangers for the state:
"This ongoing teacher shortage
threatens recent education initiatives in the state—new standards, curriculum,
instruction, and assessments—that aim to better prepare all students for
college and careers.
In
September of 2018, the non-profit Giving Compass reported:
"In California, which has the
largest number of public school students in the US, 80% of districts reported a
shortage of qualified teachers in 2017-2018, and nine out of 10 of those
districts said the situation was worse than the previous school year.
For more information Teacher Shortages Are Worsening In Most States
However,
the dangers for OUSD are greater. Data shows that without qualified teachers
the yearly assessments scores drop. Even as OUSD rebuilds its facilities with
bond monies, with adjacent district's all fighting for students because of
declining enrollments, more parents will be looking at district state scores in
selecting schools. In 2001 when OUSD
could not attract qualified teachers or administrators because of the refusal
of the anti-public education OUSD Reactionary Board to increase pay, as the
district sat on tens of millions in reserve funds, it took a voter revolt and
then a decade of rebuilding to attract qualified teachers and administrators
after the massive OUSD employee exodus.
In October of 2018, the
Learning Policy Institution issued a much quoted report on the California
teacher shortage crisis. The report
stated:
"A recent survey of school districts serving a quarter of
the state’s student population found that more than 80 percent hired
underprepared teachers in 2017-18. Many urban school districts reported to the
Learning Policy Institute that they had hired high percentages of teachers in
that year who were not fully certified, including Sacramento City Unified (34
percent), Stockton Unified (54 percent) and Fresno Unified (31 percent)."
For more information Teacher Shortages in California:Status, Sources, and Potential Solutions
For
the top OUSD Human Resource Administrator to declare to teachers, staff and
other administrators that there is not teacher shortage in Orange County,
without data, is also hard to square with the national data and
statistics.
Even
the national business sector has taken notice of the teacher shortage.
In
December 2018, Forbes cited a Wall Street Journal article that
analyzed federal data:
"If we want to improve society, we
need a better educated populace and not hold out the possibility of excellent
schooling only for those with the money to pay private tuition. But that is
going to be a harder goal to achieve. A Wall Street Journal analysis of federal
figures found that teachers are leaving the profession at the highest
rate every."
"By the 12 months
that ended in October 2018, one million workers, a tenth of all, left public
education. This shouldn't be a surprise. Look at how many protests happened
this year in states where teachers were fed up with low pay and classroom
conditions like old textbooks, when they had enough to go around."
As
the teacher shortage started to reach critical mass four years ago, the California Legislature
started to take notice. The highly
regarded non-profit Calmatters reported
in 2017 on those efforts:
"Lawmakers say California’s supply
of new teachers is at a 12-year low because
of a precipitous drop in students training to be educators, meaning the state
is at risk of graduating too few teachers to meet demand.
"Experts blame the state’s rising
cost of living and growing pressure to boost student performance on state
tests. Research shows
that concerns about salary and working conditions are deflating interest in the
job."
Both
the California Legislature and the federal government started to invest in
programs to reduce the teacher shortage especially in critical areas that
provide services to disadvantage student populations.
The
CSU System in November 2018 announced winning a federal grant to address
teacher shortages. In announcing the
grant, CSU reported it was " to help address the
state's teacher shortage and recruit diverse teaching candidate."
and to:
"...also focus on recruiting diverse and low-income
teaching candidates, encouraging them to pursue high shortage fields of study
like bilingual, STEM and computer science education, and partnerships with
high-need school districts in teacher preparation and induction."
For more information
As
far as Orange County, Chapman University did not get the OUSD Human Resources memo
that Orange County has no teacher shortage. In November 2018 Chapman University announced state
grants that is allowing it to partner with two Orange County Districts-
Fountain Valley and Magnolia to initiate and expand teacher residency programs.
Chapman University reports:
"Teacher Residency Capacity
Grants will allow Chapman and its district partners to address California’s
teacher shortage while preparing a diverse group of teachers who are dually
licensed in special education (K-12) and elementary education (K-6)."
The
statewide teacher shortage has been exasperated by the cost of living in
California. That is especially true in Orange County were housing prices are
among the highest in the state.
Statewide housing costs is a major contributor to the
teacher shortage leading to the large exodus of current teachers leaving
California. The number one state for
California's teachers relocating is Texas. In May 2018, the Sacramento Bee and the Orange County Register reported on
exodus. The Bee reported
"From 2003 through 2016, about
18,000 more elementary and secondary school teachers left California than came
from other states, according to a Bee review of U.S. Census Bureau data. The
worst losses were during the height of the housing boom, when home prices were
peaking, but they have continued throughout the economic recovery."
"The state’s teacher ranks dwindled during the
recession as funding dried up. Demand for teachers subsequently rose during the
economic recovery.
"California school districts
estimate they will hire about 21,000 new teachers next school year, according
to the state Department of Education.
"About 11,800 teachers were credentialed
through the state’s colleges during the 2016-17 school year, barely half the
number credentialed a decade prior, according to the state Commission on
Teacher Credentialing.
"A recent survey of school districts serving a quarter of
the state’s student population found that more than 80 percent hired
underprepared teachers in 2017-18. Many urban school districts reported to the
Learning Policy Institute that they had hired high percentages of teachers in
that year who were not fully certified, including Sacramento City Unified (34
percent), Stockton Unified (54 percent) and Fresno Unified (31 percent)."
For more information
The
Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the western United States increased 2.4%
over the last 12 months.
For
federal statistical purposes, Orange County is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa
Ana census area. The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports:
"The annual increase in compensation
costs in Los Angeles was 3.0 percent in December 2018, compared to advances
that ranged from 3.8 to 0.6 percent in the three other metropolitan areas in
the West (Phoenix, San Jose, and Seattle). Los Angeles’ increase in wages and
salaries over this 12-month period was 3.7 percent. The other three western
localities ranged from 4.1 to 3.7 percent. (See table
2.)
Lack
of affordable teacher housing that has furthered the teacher shortage is resulting
in some California districts to start building housing for teachers. In January 2019, CNBC reported on the growing
trend:
"California's housing affordability
crisis has made it more difficult for school districts to attract and retain
teachers, a large reflection of a problem affecting education systems across
the country.
"The challenge of luring and keeping
teachers is notoriously a problem for the San Francisco Bay Area, where housing
prices are among the highest in the nation. But it's become a difficult issue
in other areas of the state, as well, and it has led to some districts fighting
back with affordable-housing measures and other relief efforts."
For more information
Meanwhile, rents across
California have also hit record levels:
"California
cities hold five of the Top 10 spots. San Jose comes in third, Los Angeles
fifth, followed by Oakland at No. 6 and San Diego getting the ninth spot. New
York, Boston, Washington D.C., Seattle and Miami finish out the rest of the Top
10.
This probably comes to
no surprise for many in the Golden State who have watched rent prices in the
Bay Area skyrocket in recent years. The median for a two-bedroom in the city is
$4,630".
For more information
Ironically,
despite the high cost of Orange County housing, the state's economic recovery,
real estate data shows Orange County
actually lags behind the rest of the state.
The
conclusion of the 2018 Learning Policy Institute Research Brief sums up the
current statewide teacher shortage problem-that includes Orange County:
"If state funding continues to improve, and more individuals take
an interest in teaching, a change will likely occur incrementally over the next
few years. Nonetheless, shortages remain a major problem. The possibility of
more teachers tomorrow does nothing to help students today. Even if teacher
supply eventually adjusts to meet growing demand, that change could be years in
the future. In the meantime, proactive policies are necessary so that the
state’s most vulnerable students do not bear the cost.
For more information
It
appears that OUSD maybe ready ignore history and deny the signs of a perfect
storm brewing. With the OUSD
Administration again in apparent denial over retaining and attracting well
qualified teachers and as the OUSD Board of Education again hordes educational tax dollars, OUSD seems poised to repeat its
dark history.
OUSD Budget: $49 million in
cash
The OUSD Agenda Item 12 B is
the state requires Second Interim Budget report. Buried deep in the numerous pages of the
report (Agenda page 18) is the current figures for OUSD.
The
report shows that the state required emergency reserve has ballooned to $8.9
million dollars. The current unspent cash is $ 40.36 million. For a total
of $49.2 million.
School
districts must reveal their budget health and file with the county and state
how healthy they are. OUSD will again file a "positive" report:
"The District will file a positive certification
in regard to the ability to meet its financial obligations."
OUSD
has never filed a negative fiscal report. Throughout the Great Recession, OUSD
was one of the most fiscally sound districts in the state. Yet, it's
administration has routinely predicted a fiscal cliff a few years out, even
when the district is flush with cash like it is currently.
OUSD Public Relations costs
In February 2018 OUSD Trustees voted $219,424 for a Public Relations contract (Click on):
Here is what spending $219,424 of educational tax dollars on PR buys (For the latest in OUSD News on the web Click on):
NEXT OUSD
BOARD MEETING March 14, 2019
Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD
ROOM
CLOSED SESSION- 5:00 pm
OUSD
Regular Session: 7:00 pm Board Room
For more information
call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040
For budgeting questions call Business
Services at 714-628-4015
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