State audit shows teachers quitting after only a few years

EDUCATION DEFICIT

From staff and wire reports

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Just 18 percent of new teachers remained on the job in Missouri after seven years, according to a state audit confirming that public schools are having trouble keeping teachers.

The report released Thursday by State Auditor Claire McCaskill found that of the 4,256 people who received their initial teaching certificates for the 1994-1995 school year, just 771 were still teaching seven years later.

The report also found that 1,175 people -- or 28 percent -- who received a teaching certificate that year never taught a day in Missouri.

"The experience level of the state's public school educators is declining and the school districts are continually faced with recruiting new teachers and battling to address teacher shortages," the audit said.

Successful recruiting

Southeast Missouri school districts were included in the audit. But Jackson school superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said his district hasn't had problems recruiting and retaining teachers in recent years.

Anderson said that's reflected in the fact that teachers in the district have an average 16 years experience, more than the state average of 14 years.

"In Jackson, our reputation has enabled us to attract good candidates. If we lose a teacher, it's usually due to relocation of a family member or staying at home with a child. We don't have many who leave our district to go into another profession," Anderson said.

According to the state audit, 257,500 people held teaching certificates in Missouri during the 2000-2001 school year, but just 29 percent were employed in the public schools.

School officials have said that stringent certification requirements and low salaries are the primary reasons for teacher shortages.

Missouri ranked 33rd nationally in teacher pay for the school year that ended in 2001 with an average salary of $36,722, the audit said. The national average was $43,335.

At Jackson, the average teacher salary in 2001 was $36,711, ranking them 65th out of Missouri's 504 schools. Cape Girardeau School District 63 was ranked 169th with an average salary of $30,360.

In the Oak Ridge school district, the average teacher salary is $27,293, ranking them 316th in the state.

Despite the low average salary rate, superintendent Cheri Fuemmeler said the teacher turnover rate was especially low this year.

"We've been extremely fortunate this year. We only lost one teacher, and that was because her husband had a job transfer," said Fuemmeler.

Fuemmeler said she did realize there were problems recruiting teachers in certain areas of education, like math and science.

The state audit recommended that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education do a better job of keeping track of subject areas where teacher shortages exist.

The audit also said that education officials must do a better job of informing state lawmakers about the retention and recruitment of teachers.

"The audit accentuates an issue that has become a growing concern in recent years both for school districts and our department," said Jim Morris, a spokesman for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

"It also points out that in some cases, our tracking systems are behind the times. So in some cases, we don't have access to all the data needed to find out what's truly happening in the teacher work force," Morris said.

Thursday's audit was at least the third recent report raising concerns about Missouri's teacher retention.

An audit issued in June by McCaskill found that nearly 40 percent of students who received state teacher scholarships never actually became teachers or quit within five years.

A report issued by the state education department late last year found that one-third of Missouri's new public school teachers in 1996 had quit within five years, often citing poor pay, heavy workloads and a lack of respect.

Staff writer Callie Chitwood contributed to this report.