It appears that both the House and the Senate will pass
resolutions regarding a topic of great significance for our schools and for the
teaching profession.
Senator Janet Howell's SJR218 "Requesting the Department
of Education to study the feasibility of implementing a program in the
Commonwealth to track teacher turnover by developing exit questionnaires and
other means" passed in the Senate and heads for the House.
Delegate Bobby Orrock's HJR558 "Requiring the State
Council of Higher Education for Virginia to analyze the teacher shortage and
critical teaching endorsement areas in the Commonwealth" passed to third
reading in the House today and appears to be headed for passage tomorrow.
As usual, the two chambers have taken very different
approaches to the same topic. One can
only hope that the two chambers can come to an agreement as to how to do this
important analysis of teacher supply and turnover. Some years back the Department of Education
stopped keeping track of teacher demographics when budget cuts eliminated
positions.
Virginia is flying blind in this regard when a huge cohort of baby-boom teachers are readying for retirement. Finding the answers regarding teacher demographics, turnover, and supply will enable the Commonwealth to make appropriate decisions regarding attracting and retaining a high quality teacher workforce. Best case scenario is that both pass.
