ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Education kicked off a new teacher recruitment campaign Tuesday to address a teacher shortage.
The move is necessary as a generation of teachers nears retirement after two decades and more in the classroom, State School Superintendent Richard Woods said.
“A little over a third of our workforce is 20 years and above, so we’re looking at how do we replace that many people in a relatively short period of time,” said Woods, a former teacher who has served in his current role for a decade.
“We’re getting to a point where we’re going to lose over a third of our workforce in a relatively short period of time,” he added. “And that is very, very concerning because we’re not seeing the numbers in our colleges of education to replace those individuals.”
The state education agency oversees 180 school districts educating more than 1.7 million students. The new strategy unveiled Tuesday is fueled by $3 million from corporate donors and athletic foundations.
Britton Banowsky, executive director of the College Football Playoff Foundation, is among those leading the effort. His group, with help from the Atlanta Sports Council, kicked in about half the funding.
The initiative will drive a messaging campaign in an effort to lure more young people to the profession. The “Teach in the Peach” program will also include a website that helps people find jobs as teachers (more at teachinthepeach.org). And it will host a test that people can take to find out whether a career in teaching would fit them.
Banowsky said his foundation wanted to address a problem facing communities. About a decade ago, they started casting about for an issue.
“We sat around a table, and we all said, ‘Well, my mom’s a teacher, my sister’s a teacher. You know, I’ve got a kid who’s a teacher. And they need the help.’ “