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That sound you hear is our nation’s teachers exhaling. With another school year in the rearview, let’s hope our educators get a moment to recover and recharge before starting plans for the next.

For us parents, this is a time we’re acutely aware of the value teachers play in our kids’ lives — because we miss it dearly right about now. We’d be lost as a society without the dedication, passion, and inexhaustible patience of the people who teach our kids. It’s one of the only professions in America that everyone agrees is both absolutely essential and substantially under-compensated.

So why are we actively pushing many educators, especially women, out of the workforce — in the middle of a national teacher shortage no less? 

Once again it comes down to our caregiving policies. When society falls short in that department, it doesn’t just fail current families — it fails anyone who wants to have one. About eight in 10 teachers are women, and many are of childbearing age. But when they want to become parents themselves, they’re faced with an impossible choice: take unpaid leave and sign up for child care that’s unaffordable or simply give up teaching altogether.

 
 
Teaching and Motherhood Are on a Collision Course

Ever notice that teachers seem to schedule their pregnancies around summer break? That’s not a coincidence. The explanation is simple: The vast majority of schools don’t offer formal paid parental leave.

The National Council on Teacher Quality found that only 18% of the school districts it surveyed offered any paid leave policy. So if you’re a teacher and you’re planning to have a kid, you either have to save up those sick and vacation days — or plan on your kid having a summer star sign.

 
“I was in my fifth year of teaching, newly married, and hoping to enjoy that chapter. But without paid leave benefits, I had to plan my pregnancy like a military operation. I tracked ovulation obsessively, stressed over my husband’s travel, and rushed into trying to conceive before I was ready, all so I could give birth in the summer. It felt ridiculous, but I couldn’t afford unpaid time off and I wasn’t willing to hand my newborn to daycare days after delivery.”

-Jennifer I., mom from Mt. Pleasant, SC

 
Can we just pause for a second to acknowledge that this is not an acceptable reality? We shouldn’t be forcing educators to put their livelihoods at risk if they don’t plan their pregnancies around the school calendar.

And the dilemma doesn’t end there. When summer ends or saved-up sick days are exhausted, these teachers who are new moms need a child care solution. But they live in a country that’s in the midst of a child care crisis, where the cost of child care exceeds the cost of housing in all 50 states.

Now try paying for infant care or a nanny share on a teacher’s salary. It’s no wonder so many decide it’s easier just to forgo their teaching income and stay home. Think about that: We’ve built a system in which it makes more sense to make less money so you don’t have to spend it all on taking care of your kids.

That’s not a choice for teachers, it’s a consequence of broken policy.

The shortcomings of our national care policy (or lack thereof) are taking a toll on our education system. This is a big problem, and not just because it’s fundamentally wrong to mistreat the people responsible for the instruction of America’s future leaders.

The Great Teacher Exodus

Right now, our country is in desperate need of more educators. The Learning Policy Institute estimates that America faced a shortage of 110,000 teachers last school year. And they expect that shortage to rise to nearly 200,000 by next year.

It might not surprise you based on everything you just read that one big problem appears to be that we can’t get teachers to stick around long enough.

The University of Pennsylvania found that 44% of teachers quit before they make it through five years on the job.

The University of Pennsylvania found that 44% of teachers quit before they make it through five years on the job.

Imagine if nearly half of all new pilots or engineers walked away from their careers before hitting the five-year mark. It would spark national headlines — and calls for immediate reform. The teacher shortage deserves that same level of urgency.

But that’s not the case. In fact, the current budget making its way through Congress includes steep cuts for education, and some want to phase out the cabinet-level Department of Education altogether —shifting an even bigger burden to individual classrooms.

Teachers deserve a lot better from our policy makers. And so do parents. We need to foster an environment in which we acknowledge that teachers are caregivers and parents in their own right. School districts and legislatures need to pass policies that support teachers in raising their own families — because their well-being matters, and because we all benefit when educators are able to stay in the profession they love.

 
Let’s raise our voices on behalf of teachers everywhere

A lot of parents right now are pining for the days their kids had teachers in their lives every day. That makes this a great time to speak out on their behalf. Here are a few ways to do that:

 
Check out what people are saying about Moms First in the news:


I appreciate you following along with me this week. Teachers shouldn’t have to choose between the job they love and the family they dream of. If we want a future where every child thrives, we need to start by valuing the people who make that possible — both in policy and in practice.

 
For moms. For teachers. For all of us,
Reshma Saujani