Kwok: Company's success shows Arizona's teaching failure

One of the quiet and growing successes in Arizona's job-placement market is an outfit called Educational Services Inc.

The Scottsdale-based company helps put teachers in classrooms. Until three or four years ago, the bulk of that was contracting retirees to return to teaching at reduced salaries, pairing substitute teachers with schools in need and the like.

These days, ESI is going full-throttle in recruiting out-of-state college graduates with teaching degrees to come to Arizona. It is both a classic example of supply and demand and an indictment of the state of education here.

Gov. Doug Ducey's pledge this week of new K-12 funding, including increasing teacher salaries, comes at a time when the teacher-shortage problem is well into crisis territory.

Ask any school district's human resources officer. Like Nora Ulloa at the Fowler Elementary School district in west Phoenix.

Pool of talent shrunk big time

Gone, she says, are the days when the district posts an opening, fields a bunch of applicants, interviews a short list and picks the most qualified candidate. Now, it's filling the position — "if you can" — and, in many instances, having the teacher "learn on the job."

"We don’t have the luxury of being as selective in hiring new teachers as we once were," Ulloa said.

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Arizona schools no longer just have to focus on students. Many are now deeply involved in getting individuals with no teaching experience into programs to get the appropriate certification and educational course work.

"We used to be driven by certification in the field, now we are driven by interest and aptitude and helping people to earn their certification," Ulloa said. "We are in a sense 'raising our own' teachers as we nurture applicants and individuals who didn’t initially intend to go into teaching ..."

Seven of the district hires this school year are coming via ESI, which uses recruiters based in states rich in graduating aspiring teachers to pitch job openings in Arizona. The company's so-called "flex-teach" program allows individuals to work for districts under ESI contracts for one year, at the conclusion of which they can elect to enter into independent contracts with the districts. ESI also works to get the emergency certification the hires need.

Lower incentives to teach in Arizona 

A widely circulated survey by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association last year showed several thousand K-12 teaching positions statewide either remained vacant or filled by long-term substitutes and other alternative methods.

Stories abound of teachers bailing for higher-paying districts at first opportunity. Or leaving the profession altogether. Ulloa says most young teachers she knows take on additional jobs and roles to pay their loans and living expenses.

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One bright young teacher in her district who wanted to earn an advanced degree chose to move back with her parents on the other side of the Valley, Ulloa notes, simply "because she couldn't afford to live on her own" as she pursued further study.

Teachers in Arizona on average make about $45,400, according to most recent data compiled by the National Education Association, ranking it 47th in the nation. Taking inflation into account, teaching salaries here have dipped 7.6 percent over the last decade, compared to the national average drop of 1.6 percent. Starting teachers in Arizona make about $31,900.

Teaching shouldn't mean a vow of poverty

Jason Hammond of Phoenix Elementary School District sees Arizona's salaries, especially for starting teachers, as unsustainable. The state must compete with others when there's a teacher shortage nationwide.

"The problem is exacerbated here in Arizona, and it's a problem that Arizona created on its own," he said.

It doesn't take much to see how low pay and high demand works against Arizona.

"People should not have to be missionaries in order to teach," Hammond said.

So pronounced is the teacher shortage in Arizona that ESI is exploring initiatives with partners to bring teachers from other countries — beyond industry efforts at recruiting in India and the Philippines.

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Ducey’s State of the State and the budget unveiled Friday acknowledge the need for relief. But the proposed additional spending amounts to miniscule impact. The governor’s plan would boost pay by about $1,000 at the end of five years. It would take an increase of about $2,500 today just to get Arizona out of the bottom 10 in teacher pay, some $6,000 to reach the median.

Market forces the likes of Educational Services Inc. will forge ahead, regardless of political decisions — albeit incrementally.

ESI's CEO Phil Tavasci notes the company will have placed some 30 or so teachers for this school year. He's ratcheting up the goal to between 200 and 400 for next year. Hardly enough to adequately fill the talent pool.