Indiana State Teachers' Association President Teresa Meredith Speaks Out About The Teacher Shortage

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Union President on “Teacher Shortage”: “Who Cares What the Data Says?”
WRITTEN BY: MIKE ANTONUCCI - AUG• 28•15
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Stop what you’re doing and follow this link to Shaina Cavazos’ story in today’sChalkbeat Indiana about the latest teacher shortage frenzy.

The takeaway? “…the problem isn’t the number of certified teachers but a mismatch between them and available jobs. And the situation isn’t as bad or out of the ordinary as recent media coverage has suggested.”

The story even quotes University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Ingersoll. “Almost every president since Eisenhower has given a speech on teacher shortage … we’ve spent umpteen dollars trying to fix this over the last half-century,” Ingersoll said. “But this is the wrong diagnosis and the wrong prescription … It’s not an under-supply, it’s too much turnover.”

That’s a wonderful admission, except there isn’t too much turnover, either.

But the prize goes to Indiana State Teachers Association president Teresa Meredith. “There really is a climate that’s been created, and we have to look at the climate and figure out how to fix it,” she said. “Who cares what the data says because when you have administrators who don’t have applicants before the first day of school, there’s a shortage, end of story.”

Teresa Meredith

“Who cares what the data says?” Spoken like the president of an organization that ran a “Ponzi-like scheme” with taxpayer funds for teachers’ long-term disability benefits.