Nearly 60% of Illinois Education Association members are considering leaving their profession, according to a survey taken this summer by the state’s largest teachers union.
The IEA survey found that 65% of teachers considering leaving are doing so because they don’t make enough money.
One such teacher is Alton School District pre-K teacher Amber Sims. She’s a single mom with four children and can’t make ends meet on her salary alone.
“ I just don’t make enough, so [in] summertime I do tutoring. I have in the past worked summer school as well,” Sims said, noting that she sometimes also tutors after school.
IEA President Al Llorens said this data should set off alarm bells as there is already a teacher shortage in Illinois and nationwide.
“If there was any question why there’s a teacher and education support staff shortage, there should not be one now,” Llorens said. “Our members still enjoy what they are doing, but extenuating circumstances are clearly making the profession very difficult.”
In addition to financial pressures, 65% of those considering leaving education said there is a lack of respect for the profession, and 62% said their workload is increasing.
Llorens said an additional problem for newer teachers is Illinois’ Tier 2 pension system, which went into effect for all new employees enrolled in state pensions, including teachers, in 2011. He added that newer teachers are paying 9% of their salary into the state pension system but will only get on average 6% back in retirement.
“It’s simply not fair to have folks working right next to folks that are doing the same job but getting a reduced pension benefit,” Llorens said.
For teacher salaries to increase and more adequately cover the cost of living, the state must more fully fund K-12 education, he added.
“We would like to see more money into the evidence-based funding formula because there’s a difference between providing exactly what’s needed and providing what can cause people to feel that they can thrive in a situation,” Llorens said.
IEA said the survey of 500 active members was conducted by Normington Petts from June 10 to 13. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%.
