The teachers are slowly disappearing. And Torah Umesorah is preparing to launch a $25 million project to bring them back through raising their salaries, returning the prestige to the job and recruiting those with natural teaching talent.
That announcement, Matzav.com has learned, was made last night at a session of the Torah Umesorah Presidents’ Conference in Florida, thought details of the undertaking remain murky.
The project is the brainchild of Rabbi Zvi Bloom, the executive director of the organization that promotes yeshiva education.
A few years ago, Rabbi Bloom and Torah Umesorah started a fund to help yeshivos raise rabbeim’s salaries, and now, about 1,000 rabbeim who are earning $15,000 more than they were making when they started.
Now, the attention has been turned to the morah salary raise program.
“It’s definitely one of the main issues that we’ll be dealing with,” said Rabbi Bloom in a recent interview with the Yated Ne’eman, “both to get donors and to get schools to make the commitment, because, ultimately, it’s going to be the schools that are going to have to do it.”
Torah Umesorah has reportedly put together eight different versions of the plan in an effort to present something that the schools cn handle and buy into.
“I will tell you as follows: What’s happening with the morah crisis right now is not just that teachers are going to work for Title I,” Rabbi Bloom remarked in the aforementioned interview. “Girls are going anywhere but the classroom. The spread used to be $15,000 between working in an office or as a teacher. Today, the spread has become $40,000. So it’s almost a no-brainer. It doesn’t make sense to even think about going into teaching.”
The goal is to bridge that gap and bring that number down so that it is something worthwhile.
“There are a lot of maalos to being a teacher — financial, time, hashkafah, what your home looks like when you are a morah as opposed to when you work in an office and you’re not home for the kids,” says Rabb Bloom. “Your life is not wrapped around the Yomim Tovim and the Chumash or whatever else a morah teaches and that she brings into the house. You’re also off for three months a year and you get paid in ways that are much more beneficial. So there are tremendous benefits to being a morah. But if the numbers are so far off, then it just doesn’t work. So we need to figure out a way that, yes, it’s going to take mesirus nefesh and it’s going to take dedication, and someone is going to have to decide that she wants to be a morah and it’s not only about the money. But the numbers have to add up so that they will be able to at least support themselves.”
Schools are going to have to start paying moros more, because there are countless schools that say that they have numerous positions today — right now, in December — that are not filled. In the meantime, they are doing whatever they can to fill the gaps — giving more free classes, principals teaching classes, and so on.
“It’s already a crisis,” says Rabbi Bloom. “It’s not like we are coming to a crisis. The crisis is here.”
{Matzav.com}
SUPPLY AND DEMAND WILL BRING THE SALARIES UP.
THE ONLY THING INTERFERING WITH SUPPLY AND DEMAND IS THAT MOST GIRLS’ SCHOOLS ARE PRIVATELY OWNED AND PARENTS DO NOT DEMAND QUALITY TEACHERS NOR DO THEY DEMAND AN ACCOUNTING FROM THE OWENERS AS TO WHERE THE MONEY GOES.
You’re right. The rule of Supply and Demand will always win.
The truth is that there is no real demand for quality teachers, because everyone knows that the girls will never need to know those things that they are being taught in these schools.
I’m a Morah and I strongly resent that comment.
If only you go out of the classroom, to the real Heimishe world for a few weeks, you would understand.
Let’s try this:
STEPPING UP: At Convention, Torah Umesorah Launches Daring lower priced seminary Project for all yiddish familes
Touché. But then again, maybe the right answer to that problem is that girls should stop doing the “year in Israel”. How come we don’t see such a movement?
Are there not inexpensive in-town seminaries?
Wish for the day there is a $40,000 gap. More like a $20,000 gap. Factor in summers off and hours. They are not far off.
Also say the salaries are raised it will cost more in tuition. A lot more!!! Something ppl can’t afford. This is forcing ppl into poverty to take others out.
Teachers work unpaid every night and weekend preparing. They get paid the equivalent of a cleaning woman who doesn’t get sent home with the dishes to “prepare”. There is no other job that requires so much prep without compensation, nor so underappreciated.
The fact is that the public doesn’t have a right to teachers’ time and services unless they’re willing to pay for it.
As one that is very aware of the financial situation in a successful girls school in Lakewood with an intimate inside knowledge of the finanaces, the school ran at a significant surplus year over year(as does ever successful established girls elementary school), then came PPP, ERC, Lunch boxes etc and they made millions (Google it the list is out there what each school got) and not 1 penny went to raise teachers or give them a yom tov bonus or the help w a simcha.
The teachers are locked in as the schools have a rule to not take from each other suppressing organic growth potential, it’s beyond ludicrous to start raising 25 million dollars. All that has to happen is that TU should mandate every mosod to open their books to a reputable accounting firm for some transparency and the crisis will melt away faster than a snowball in hell.
Everyone is avoiding the elephant in the room….
(And yes teachers are treated like school property who have no chashivus and are treated like the elementary students by the principles)
Bh!!! Finally!!!!!