
Teacher Recruitment and Retention Must Keep Pace with Charter and Private School Demand
Commentary
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott recently introduced the
According to a May 21
Additionally, on May 16, during National Charter School Week, the Department of Education
Education Secretary Linda McMahon
This new investment in charter school programs, combined with the extensive expansion of school choice legislation over the past four years, creates a far-reaching market demand for education options outside the residentially assigned district public school.
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Regarding private school choice, since 2021,
An essential component of school expansion—whether a new school or the growth of an existing school—is an adequate number of teachers to staff classrooms.
Public schools are plagued by staffing challenges. According to a
Additionally, per the report, only 20 percent of 'teachers say they are very satisfied with their job.' And only 16 percent of teachers 'recommend the teaching profession to others.'
There are many reasons why teachers are dissatisfied and leaving the profession.
Within district public schools, the reasons are increasingly related to woke agendas prioritized within school practices, policies, and curriculum. Many educators do not want to be forced to follow, enforce, and teach these radical ideologies. Additionally, the so-called restorative justice philosophy that fails to hold all students accountable for behavior, and the growing
Furthermore, the seniority salary schedule that fails to recognize professional performance, subject matter expertise, and related outside experience makes traditional public schools less attractive to enter or remain for high-quality teachers.
For charter schools and private schools, the challenges related to recruiting and retaining teachers frequently center on school culture and leadership, which can more easily be remedied once accurately and specifically diagnosed. Yet, typically, school leaders are unsure how to resolve their recruitment and retention issues, or they would have done so already.
One company,
With the increasing demand for these education options, it's essential that the teacher recruitment and retention problems hindering school flourishing and growth are adequately addressed. Arcadia Education's faculty assessment is an example of a practical tool that can provide a timely solution, arming administrators with actionable insight into their school setting them on a course for success in attracting and keeping high-quality teachers.
As more public school educators exit the system, there will be a timely opportunity for charter schools and private schools to recruit the best and the brightest who align with the school's mission. With a strong pipeline of educators flowing to charter schools and private schools, and solid retention of existing quality faculty members, these education alternatives will not only be better positioned to meet the rapidly increasing demand but will also be able to exercise the necessary selectivity in staffing. The ultimate beneficiaries will be students.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Education Department pays over $7 million a month to employees forced to sit idle
The US Department of Education is paying more than $7 million a month to employees it has forced to go on leave, according to analysis from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union that represents department employees. The payments could continue for years amid a long court battle over cuts instituted by the Trump administration. The department has already paid more than $21 million to idle employees over the last three months, AFGE has calculated, after they were terminated in March when the agency cut nearly half of its workforce. Roughly 1,300 people were laid off and hundreds more took voluntary 'buyouts.' The firings were part of President Donald Trump's larger plan to dismantle the Department of Education and promise to deliver efficiencies through cuts across government. Dozens of other agencies have faced cuts in recent months, with workers in those departments facing similar situations. Under the terms of the layoffs, affected Department of Education workers were to be paid their salaries until June 9, their last day of employment. However, following a May federal court decision blocking White House plans to shut down the agency, the workers were reinstated and placed on 'administrative leave' — meaning they are employed but not allowed to work — as lawsuits continue. This means salary payments will now continue past Monday, while employees remain in what many describe as 'administrative purgatory,' racking up further costs for the department. According to AFGE Local 252, which analyzed over 900 salaries of affected employees, the true cost to the Department of Education is well over $7 million a month as the figure does not include employee benefits or managers' pay. The cuts were billed as a drive for government savings. When announcing the layoffs in March, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said they reflected the agency's 'commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.' Critics point out that it has instead generated wasteful costs with no returns when employees continue getting paid for not working. Meanwhile, numerous employees on administrative leave who are members of Local 252 told CNN they feel embarrassed collecting a paycheck. After her termination in March, Ariel Shepetovskiy, a Department of Education lawyer, lost access to computer systems and email accounts needed to do her work. Now on administrative leave, 'it feels like garbage to receive pay in exchange for doing nothing,' Shepetovskiy said. 'I also feel shame because on some level I feel like a parasite for American taxpayers.' But, she said, 'If I leave my position then there's no chance of me ever being able to do my job again.' She is holding on despite the uncertainties because she has hope that employees could be brought back, she said. 'I'm trying to do my best to be productive, but I am also sad. I am frustrated and upset every day.' Robert Jason Cottrell, a data coordinator with the department, also expressed frustration — wanting, but unable — to work. 'I feel like I am on welfare,' he said. 'I almost feel like a leech on the system. I am able-bodied and able to go into work to help the nation's mission to educate our future generations. And I'm not doing that right now.' CNN has asked the Department of Education for comment. In an email to staff reviewed by CNN, the agency told workers Friday that they would continue to be employed, and that it was assessing how to 'reintegrate you back to the office in the most seamless way possible.' 'This includes evaluating necessary updates to security access, technology, and workspaces to ensure full operability,' the email said. Dozens of government agencies are involved in lawsuits challenging White House directives cutting their workforce, with workers similarly placed on administrative leave and unable to work across Washington. As lawsuits drag on, agencies have offered buyouts or settlements to encourage workers to leave. In recent weeks, some Department of Education employees say they were offered settlements in exchange for resigning their positions. Several employees given the offer told CNN they had cases pending before the Merit Systems Protection Board, or MSPB, a government office that civil servants can use to appeal personnel disputes. Settlement offers reviewed by CNN would pay for these employees through September if they drop their cases and quit. Some who received the offers described them as feeling 'scammy' and like being plied with 'sweet talk' upon receiving them. Sheria Smith, president of AFGE Local 252 in Dallas, felt the deals amounted to attempts to 'intimidate great public servants to leave their jobs.' Smith, who was laid off in March, said she has heard from over a dozen employees who were approached with these offers in the past two weeks. Victoria DeLano, who is on administrative leave, said the settlement would mean giving up the option to be reinstated. 'I am not giving up that option,' she said. 'So many of us are just holding on because we know how important this work is.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Warren urges Department of Education IG to investigate DOGE access to student loan data
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is requesting the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General review the Department of Government Efficiency's alleged "infiltration" of the agency's internal federal student loan database. "The full extent of DOGE's role and influence at ED remains unknown," Warren wrote in a letter first obtained by ABC News. "This lack of clarity is not only frustrating for borrowers but also dangerous for the future of an agency that handles an extensive student loan portfolio and a range of federal aid programs for higher education," she added. The internal federal student aid (FSA) systems handle the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio for more than 40 million borrowers. It's unclear whether DOGE has made any changes to student loan data. MORE: Elizabeth Warren launches campaign to investigate Department of Education closure: 'I will fight it with everything I've got' "The Department is refusing to tell Americans who's digging through their personal data and if their data is safe," Warren wrote in a statement to ABC News. "I'm pushing for an independent investigation into what the Department of Education is hiding from us." The OIG office is the statutory, independent entity within the department responsible for identifying fraud, waste, abuse, and criminal activity involving department funds, programs, and operations, according to its website. Warren and a group of Democratic senators, including Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accuse the Department of Education of refusing to comply with her monthslong congressional investigation into what, if any, records have been accessed by DOGE employees that could be sensitive. "[The Education Department] further refused to disclose any information about the scope of DOGE's access to sensitive student borrower data, including whether or not DOGE was granted access to the National Student Loan Data System or any other database that holds sensitive federal student loan borrower data," they wrote in the letter to Department of Education Acting Inspector General René L. Rocque. Billionaire Elon Musk and the DOGE team gained access to several federal agencies earlier this year. The team was tasked to slash federal spending and help dismantle the education department. At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the department's fiscal year 2026 budget last month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the DOGE employees working at the department had the same access any of the agency's employees would be granted. MORE: Secretary McMahon wants Harvard to 'come back to the table' to negotiate with Trump admin McMahon has also said that DOGE was conducting a 'solid audit' of the agency and she appreciates their work to help identify waste, fraud and abuse. The news comes ahead of Warren's first ever meeting with McMahon. Warren sent McMahon dozens of questions ahead of the meeting as she hopes to discuss student loan repayment and forbearances, access to student aid and debt relief, among other topics. However, in February, Warren opened an investigation into DOGE's influence at the agency. The department's responses to her investigation did not indicate how a DOGE employee who previously had "read-only access" to files had those privileges "revoked," whether this employee has 'retained access' to any other internal databases, and what actions the agency has done to ensure that sensitive information would not be 'released or misused," according to Warren's letter to the inspector general. In its responses, the department said it couldn't answer the senator's questions due to 'ongoing litigations,' the letter added. "These responses failed to diminish our concerns about borrowers' privacy and whether the Department may have violated the law or the federal government's procedures in handling this data," senators wrote in the letter. ABC News reached out to the Education Department and the White House about DOGE's access to borrower data but did not receive a reply before this story was published. In April, Warren launched her "Save Our Schools" campaign in opposition to President Donald Trump's and McMahon's efforts to dismantle the department. The senator has previously investigated the firing of FSA employees and how a reduction in staff at the agency could have "dire consequences" for borrowers. "ED should immediately restore all fired [Federal Student Aid] employees responsible for reviewing student aid complaints and refrain from taking any measures to deter the submission of complaints," Warren and a group of Democratic senators wrote in a letter to McMahon in March. Recently, congressional Democrats insisted McMahon cooperate with a separate inspector general review of the administration's plan to shutter the smallest Cabinet-level agency. A group of lawmakers on the Education and Workforce, Oversight, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Appropriations committees in the House and Senate sent the secretary a letter requesting she comply with the federal watchdog. "The OIG must be allowed to do its job," they wrote. "We urge the Department to immediately meet its obligation under the law to fully comply with the OIG's review. "Congress and the public need to understand the full extent and impact of the Administration's actions on the Department and the students, families, and educational communities it may no longer be able to serve," they added. McMahon's "final mission" as the 13th education secretary is to abolish the department, but the administration's first steps to diminish the agency was denied in a federal appeals court loss last week. The Department of Education has since filed an appeal with the Supreme Court. Warren urges Department of Education IG to investigate DOGE access to student loan data originally appeared on

3 hours ago
Warren urges Department of Education IG to investigate DOGE access to student loan data
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is requesting the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General review the Department of Government Efficiency's alleged "infiltration" of the agency's internal federal student loan database. "The full extent of DOGE's role and influence at ED remains unknown," Warren wrote in a letter first obtained by ABC News. "This lack of clarity is not only frustrating for borrowers but also dangerous for the future of an agency that handles an extensive student loan portfolio and a range of federal aid programs for higher education," she added. The internal federal student aid (FSA) systems handle the $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio for more than 40 million borrowers. It's unclear whether DOGE has made any changes to student loan data. "The Department is refusing to tell Americans who's digging through their personal data and if their data is safe," Warren wrote in a statement to ABC News. "I'm pushing for an independent investigation into what the Department of Education is hiding from us." The OIG office is the statutory, independent entity within the department responsible for identifying fraud, waste, abuse, and criminal activity involving department funds, programs, and operations, according to its website. Warren and a group of Democratic senators, including Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., Tina Smith, D-Minn., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accuse the Department of Education of refusing to comply with her monthslong congressional investigation into what, if any, records have been accessed by DOGE employees that could be sensitive. "[The Education Department] further refused to disclose any information about the scope of DOGE's access to sensitive student borrower data, including whether or not DOGE was granted access to the National Student Loan Data System or any other database that holds sensitive federal student loan borrower data," they wrote in the letter to Department of Education Acting Inspector General René L. Rocque. Billionaire Elon Musk and the DOGE team gained access to several federal agencies earlier this year. The team was tasked to slash federal spending and help dismantle the education department. At a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the department's fiscal year 2026 budget last month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the DOGE employees working at the department had the same access any of the agency's employees would be granted. McMahon has also said that DOGE was conducting a 'solid audit' of the agency and she appreciates their work to help identify waste, fraud and abuse. The news comes ahead of Warren's first ever meeting with McMahon. Warren sent McMahon dozens of questions ahead of the meeting as she hopes to discuss student loan repayment and forbearances, access to student aid and debt relief, among other topics. However, in February, Warren opened an investigation into DOGE's influence at the agency. The department's responses to her investigation did not indicate how a DOGE employee who previously had "read-only access" to files had those privileges "revoked," whether this employee has 'retained access' to any other internal databases, and what actions the agency has done to ensure that sensitive information would not be 'released or misused," according to Warren's letter to the inspector general. In its responses, the department said it couldn't answer the senator's questions due to 'ongoing litigations,' the letter added. "These responses failed to diminish our concerns about borrowers' privacy and whether the Department may have violated the law or the federal government's procedures in handling this data," senators wrote in the letter. ABC News reached out to the Education Department and the White House about DOGE's access to borrower data but did not receive a reply before this story was published. In April, Warren launched her "Save Our Schools" campaign in opposition to President Donald Trump's and McMahon's efforts to dismantle the department. The senator has previously investigated the firing of FSA employees and how a reduction in staff at the agency could have "dire consequences" for borrowers. "ED should immediately restore all fired [Federal Student Aid] employees responsible for reviewing student aid complaints and refrain from taking any measures to deter the submission of complaints," Warren and a group of Democratic senators wrote in a letter to McMahon in March. Recently, congressional Democrats insisted McMahon cooperate with a separate inspector general review of the administration's plan to shutter the smallest Cabinet-level agency. A group of lawmakers on the Education and Workforce, Oversight, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Appropriations committees in the House and Senate sent the secretary a letter requesting she comply with the federal watchdog. "The OIG must be allowed to do its job," they wrote. "We urge the Department to immediately meet its obligation under the law to fully comply with the OIG's review. "Congress and the public need to understand the full extent and impact of the Administration's actions on the Department and the students, families, and educational communities it may no longer be able to serve," they added. McMahon's "final mission" as the 13th education secretary is to abolish the department, but the administration's first steps to diminish the agency was denied in a federal appeals court loss last week.