COLUMBIA, S.C. — At the start of the 2021 - 2022 school year, over a thousand teaching vacancies were reported across South Carolina. Now several efforts at the State House hope to combat the shortage, but educators worry it may not be enough.
This legislative session, lawmakers are advancing bills they hope will help address the problem. One is House Bill 3590; it could allow schools to hire noncertified teachers if they have a four-year degree.
“It’s mainly to have a teacher in the classroom without having to cancel certain classes in school when you don’t have a certified teacher to teach,” Representative Rita Allison, the bill's sponsor, explained.
Allison got the idea from charter schools, which she said already allow noncertified educators in certain situations. “This was just using another tool in the toolbox to allow school districts to have some option to not cancel a class or not have a certain subject taught that year,” Allison explained to News19.
Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association said the bill has good intent but compared it to taking Tylenol for a broken arm. “We know that there's just simply not an adequate workforce out there and individuals that are likely to teach under this bill, because currently, those individuals can teach under the state's adjunct certificate on a part-time basis. Last year, only 49 people statewide taught under that certificate,” asserted Kelly.
H. 3590 has passed the House and is now in its early stages of the Senate.
Another effort to help retain teachers is a Senate bill that could guarantee elementary school teachers at least 30 minutes of time where they’re not supervising students each school day. “I think the 'unencumbered time bill' is probably the most important education-related bill that the General Assembly has dealt with so far this session," said Kelly.
He added that many teachers don't even have time to go to the bathroom during a work day because they never have a moment when they're not supervising children.
The 'unencumbered time bill', or S. 946, passed out of committee in the beginning of February.
The governor has proposed raising the minimum salary for teachers from $36,000 to $38,000. Many educators are happy to see the bump but would like to see pay raises for all teachers as well.