A lack of housing and opportunities is making it difficult for Alabama’s poorer schools and districts to hold on to teachers, State Superintendent Eric Mackey told a gathering of educators and lawmakers.
Speaking during a presentation Wednesday during the meeting of the Governor’s Commission on Teaching and Learning, which includes superintendents, officials and lawmakers, Mackey said teachers who work in very rural counties may live an hour or more away from their job for housing and dating prospects. With young teachers likely to move to better-paying districts, it can be difficult for them to stay in rural areas.
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“I’m 23, I get a job in Perry County, but there’s no place to live,” Mackey said. “If I do decide to live there, there’s no night life and nobody to date, and so what I do is I live in Shelby County and I drive an hour, hour and 15 minutes. Well, when I get a job offer in Alabaster or Pelham or anywhere or Centerville, that’s that much closer. It’s like a pay raise because I’m not spending three hours a day on the road and buying gas.”
Mackey referenced Melvin Brown, superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools, who was on the commission panel, as someone who has teachers who start at an “inner city” school, and after a few years, move to a more affluent school or a magnet program and remain for their career.
The state superintendent cited two examples in the city: Forest Magnet Academic magnet, where fewer than 15% of the student body was economically disadvantaged in the 2021-22 school year, and Thelma Smiley Morris Elementary School, where nearly 88% of the students were disadvantaged.
“So your turnover in magnet schools, at Forest Avenue: almost zero; your turnover at Thelma Smiley, probably 50%,” Mackey said.
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The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were at least 49,510 teachers working in the state in May 2022.
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.