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PSS: $7.6M more needed to meet the standard teacher-student ratio
»Needs for teachers ‘more pronounced’ in high school
The Public School System would need about $7.6 million more in yearly appropriations to pay for the 200 or more teachers needed to meet the Board of Education-mandated teacher-student ratio of 25:1—with more of those teachers needed for high schools—according to PSS federal programs officer Tim Thornburg.
“That would take us back to fiscal year ’11,” he said in an interview.
According to a PSS statement last Friday, the last year PSS met the BOE teacher-student ratio was in school year 2011-2012—with a ratio of 24:1.
Thornburg got the $7.6 million figure by taking into the account the $38,000 a teacher would earn with benefits during a school year—running that times the 200 teachers PSS needs.
On the PSS’ budget increase of around $1.1 million—approved by the Legislature in their budget bill last week—Thornburg estimates that it would allow PSS to hire 29 more teachers.
“It’d help,” he said.
He noted, however, that recruiting teachers in September or October is not the best time, as he said the best time to do so for preparation for a school year would be from December to March the year prior.
“There’s been plenty of studies from the National Center for Education Statistics that state if you’re recruiting between December and March you should be able to get the teachers you need,” he said.
He said the “really big need” according to PSS data is teachers in language arts, chemistry, and environmental sciences.
“That’s where the real need is,” he said, adding that the need “is much more pronounced” in the islands’ high schools.
“We have a college here that graduates about 20 in elementary education every year. Many of them are teacher aides that have gone to get a BA, but the college doesn’t graduate anybody, not even one, with a degree in math, in physics,” he said.
He noted that students who want to be chemistry teachers have to go off island to get a degree.
When asked about the strain or added costs it takes PSS to recruit teachers off-island, he noted competitiveness among schools as a factor.
“What it is, is your competing with every school district in the United States, and again if they’re out recruiting in December to March [then] that’s when we need to go,” he said.
PSS noted last Friday a 27:1 teacher-student ratio for last school year. Earlier, it was reported that this year’s ratio is estimated at around 30:1, according to Derek Sasamato, PSS director of finance and budget.
