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The Latest from Jeanne Harmon: Baby Boomers in Washington

Posted March 25th, 2009 in News

I always look forward to Jeanne Harmon’s (Executive Director for the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession) emails – they’re insightful, useful, and really relevant. Her latest on baby boomers in Washington State was no different:

The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future recently published a report about the impending retirement of baby boomers and its projected effect on public schools. Their review produced a picture of the workforce across the nation but doesn’t give specifics for Washington.

The NCTAF report states:
- 1.7 million are approaching retirement (avg retirement age = 56)
- in 2011, the Baby Boomer generation will begin to retire in large numbers

To read the NCTAF report, see: www.nctaf.org

So what about Washington?

According to Dr. Margaret Plecki at the University of Washington, our state’s baby boom came later than most of the country, so national statistics do not accurately reflect Washington’s workforce.

Last school year (2007-08) fifty percent of Washington’s teachers were age 31-50. Twenty-nine percent were 51-60 and five percent were older than 60. Sixty-two percent of Washington’s teachers have 5-24 years of experience, while 16% have 25 years or more.

Given our state’s retirement system, most current employees will not be eligible to receive benefits until they reach age 65. Given the economy, most teachers will not have adequate savings to allow early retirement. And if RIFs come this spring, it will be the newest teachers who lose — not those with years of experience.

What’s it mean?
A very large percentage of Washington’s teaching force will remain in teaching for at least another decade. Many will be with us another twenty or thirty years.

If Washington wants to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all students, major investments in teacher learning are critical. We cannot recruit our way to better student learning. We need a systematic effort to make sure every teacher has the knowledge, skills and supports needed so that students can achieve the high standards we have set for them.

Courtesy of:
Jeanne Harmon, Executive Director
Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession
www.cstp-wa.org