By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org
     
BOISE, Idaho – More than 1,800 public school teachers in Idaho left the profession after the 2011-12 school year, a fact that the teachers union attributes to the state’s ambitious education reform program.
 

But there has also been an increase in the number of professionals from other industries willing to take advantage of a new law that allows them to bypass traditional four-year college education programs and take quicker routes to teacher certification.
 
The number of Idaho teachers who left their jobs after last school year increased significantly from previous years. A total of 1,276 left after the 2010-11 school year while on 716 left after the 2009-10 year, according to a story published by the Spokesman-Review.
 
Of those who left this year, about half cited “personal reasons,” according to the news report.
 
Union officials were quick to blame the state’s ambitious “Students Come First” reform program, which, among other things, curtailed collective bargaining, eliminated tenure for new hires  and introduced merit pay and tougher teacher evaluations based on student test scores.
 
“We are losing an unacceptably high number of experienced teachers,” Penni Cyr, president of the Idaho Education Association, was quoted as saying. “If we continue to silence teachers’ voices and impose one-size-fits-all mandates, the best and brightest teachers will be discouraged from working in the schools that need them most.”
 
Hogwash. Lots of experienced teachers are staying put, despite the reforms. These are the people who are dedicated to the students and their profession. Meanwhile, people from other professions want to become teachers. The future belongs to these folks.
 
Those who can’t live with a new system that puts student needs before the union wish list are probably better off in a different line of work, anyway. Perhaps many of them were scared off by the threat of tough new evaluations. Whatever. If they don’t want to be in Idaho classrooms, forget them.