The possible fixes include, better pay, better pay and better pay.

I don't care if they are on the higher end nationally, teachers have not had a significant raise in a decade and inflation is running at 10% a year and their health insurance contributions have increased by about the same.

Their real take home pay has declined as the demands on them have only increased.

Once we get that figured out, then we can talk about working conditions.

You can argue all you want about whether they "deserve" better pay, but you will continue to see less and less teachers and qualifications continue to decline.

I feel like this can’t be overstated enough and I think that if school boards owned this, the parents would pay. I know I would

Former teacher here. Fuck teaching in this state

Better pay, more support from administrators, less (or no) time on data/SGO’s, more release time for PD and/or team/department planning.

Step 1. Merge into regionals

Step 2. County superintendents. Not individual towns.

Step 3. More money to pay teachers in districts that don't pay

Step 4. More discipline in middle schools.

Step 5. Hold parents accountable for their asshole 7th grader.

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Repeat step 5 upwards to 12th grade.

Increase pay. That's a huge part of it. My wife's 11 years in at her school district and she's making just over $60k. While her pay has never dramatically increased in any single year, the cost of health insurance has quadrupled since she started. Over a decade later her total compensation has remained essentially flat after you factor that in. It's insane.

7th grade is the worst. It's pretty much Vietnam.

Steps 1 and 2 will never happen. Unfortunately to many people want to hold onto the power.