Margaret Ruff, a second grade teacher at Hollis Elementary School, staples letters to a bulletin board outside her classroom as she prepares for the start of the 2023 school year. Ruff was hoping teachers’ wages go up so she can afford to teach for the long term. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Maine needs to improve its teacher certification processes and invest in career pathways to grow and strengthen its educator workforce, according to a new report from an education nonprofit done in collaboration with the Maine Department of Education.

Maine, like most states, has struggled to fully staff its schools. Last spring the state estimated it would have widespread shortages for the 2024-25 school year, and allowed emergency hiring for teachers in many subjects, including health, special education, computer science, music, social studies, early childhood, art, English, English as a second language, science and math.

Educate Maine, a nonprofit that advocates for education policies, released a report this week after working with the state to develop the Teach Maine Center, a hub for teachers with the goal of advancing the profession in the state. The purpose of the report was to learn how teachers think Maine could grow and sustain its educator workforce, a first step in setting up the center.

Educate Maine and the Maine DOE organized forums in every county between October 2023 and May 2024, where teachers answered questions about how to improve recruitment, support and advancement in their field. About 250 teachers from more than 100 districts participated.

The report offers seven recommendations to improve Maine’s teacher workforce, ranging from financial support to legislative advocacy:

• The first is to reduce barriers, like time commitment and costs, in the teacher certification process. The report says accepting out-of-state certifications, counting work experience toward certification requirements, and adding one-on-one coaching, better customer service and financial support could all ease barriers. In a related recommendation, it suggests expanding or creating undergraduate scholarships, loan forgiveness and paying student teachers to encourage people to come into the field. “As a second career it becomes ‘pay to play’ – you have to have money to do the courses and student teach,” an unnamed Cumberland County teacher said during a forum.

• It also suggests creating apprenticeships and accelerated programs for educational technicians or substitutes to become teachers.

• The report proposes developing more ways for teachers to connect to each other through workshops, physical hubs and mentorships.

• And suggests that investment in non-teaching positions like ed techs, substitutes and bus drivers would enrich the overall school ecosystem.

• The final three recommendations are for more public celebration of the work teachers do, adding opportunities for growth or leadership within the profession and improved advocacy skills.

The report says the nature of public education is changing because of forces like politics and social media, and that many teachers say the cost-benefit analysis of becoming a teacher just doesn’t make sense anymore.

“The time, financial costs, and opportunity costs (e.g. forgoing paid work while student teaching) of becoming a teacher are very high for what is a very low salary compared to other professional occupations,” the report reads. “The work is meaningful with many benefits, but high costs to obtain credentials when salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living turns people away from even considering the profession.”

The report concludes by saying that Maine’s policy will need to change to improve its recruitment and retention of educators.

“We heard over and over again: increase teacher pay, eliminate the Windfall Elimination provision (social security offset penalization), pay student teachers, create more pathways into the profession, and build more housing,” it reads.