“There’s no cost to teachers saying, ‘Oh, I’m out of here if you guys don’t do X, Y, and Z,’ but when push comes to shove, a teacher who quits or retires early is quitting in a job market that’s dried up at the moment,” Walsh said, adding that most people can’t afford to give up a paycheck or take a hit on their pension.Īnd many districts don’t allow teachers to quit after a certain point in the year. ( Early data show that outbreaks in schools have been limited.) Threatening to quit may have been a last-ditch effort to convince districts to keep school doors closed in the fall, said NCTQ President Kate Walsh. Going into this school year, many teachers called for their school districts to stay virtual over fears that in-person classes would cause the spread of the coronavirus. That said, when certain states or districts did see a spike in teacher retirements this year, Ingersoll said it is likely related to the coronavirus pandemic-because demographic trend lines would otherwise suggest that retirements should be going down. “Probably not-you’re probably afraid to.” “You’re a fifth-year teacher and you’re less than age 30, do you really want to quit?” Ingersoll said. The bulk of teachers are in an age group that’s less vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus. The percentage of public school teachers age 50 and older has consistently ticked down over the past decade, according to his data. (It does not include educators in New York City schools, who have their own retirement plan.) A plan administrator said “most” members are K-12 teachers, but no precise percentage is available.Īnother consideration: The teaching force is gradually becoming younger, analyses by Ingersoll show. New York’s retirement plan members include K-12 administrators, too, as well as educators in the state university system and state community colleges, and some state department of education employees. However, there is no way of knowing exactly how much of that increase was driven by K-12 teachers. There were additional upticks in retirements this June and July. What’s clear is there are huge regional variations: An EdWeek review shows that teacher attrition this year was higher in some places, lower in others, and indeterminate in many more.įor instance, educator retirements in New York state spiked this summer-580 educators retired in August, compared to 259 educators last year.
It will be years before there are federal data that give a clear picture of whether teacher attrition rose or fell nationwide during this unprecedented school year. And an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that about 1.5 million teachers -nearly 1 in 4-have health conditions that increase their risk for COVID-19 complications.īut Education Week found there is no way to validate dire predictions of a national spike in teachers leaving the classroom. Stoking the fears were some troubling statistics: About 18 percent of public school teachers are age 55 or older, putting them at heightened risk for serious illness due to COVID-19. Surveys showed that 1 in 5 teachers said they were unlikely to return to in-person instruction in the fall, and that the same percentage said they were said they were more likely to quit at the end of last school year than they were before the pandemic. But an Education Week analysis shows that the predicted wave of leavers has not materialized across the nation.Īs the start of the 2020-21 school year approached and many districts began rolling out plans to bring students back to campus, teachers across the country wrestled with the difficult decision of whether to leave their jobs to protect their health and that of their loved ones or stay in the classroom. News headlines over the summer raised a fearful specter: teachers resigning or retiring en masse, terrified they’d get COVID-19 if they returned to the classroom. Teacher retirements are actually down this year in the city despite the pandemic. 2, calling for more and better COVID-19 testing and precautions. Teachers and staff protest outside Franklin D.
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