As families prepare to send their children off to school this year there are several new laws impacting what teachers can teach. Elizabeth Ruiz has more on the challenges teachers are facing when putting together their curriculum.
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00:00 As families are preparing to send their children off to school this year, there are several new laws impacting what teachers can teach.
00:07 Elizabeth Ruiz has more on the challenges teachers are facing when putting together their curriculum.
00:12 Teachers are facing some new and old challenges as students head back to school.
00:18 So-called "culture wars" have given way to new laws and rules on what educators can teach.
00:23 In Tennessee, educators filed a recent federal lawsuit to challenge a law that limits discussions about race.
00:30 Similar legislation has been introduced in more than a dozen other states.
00:34 Some states are also targeting books in school libraries.
00:37 More than 2,500 novels were pulled from shelves in 2022.
00:42 That's up 35 percent from the year before.
00:45 What concerns me about all of this book banning is kids need to see themselves in their learning.
00:49 They need to be connected to their reading.
00:51 If we want our children to have a love for reading, then they have to read books that interest them.
00:56 They have to read books that they connect to and they have to read books that they see themselves in.
01:00 Teachers are also having to deal with ongoing staffing shortages.
01:04 Education Department data shows that 47 states had staffing shortages last school year.
01:09 The issue is leading to teacher burnout.
01:12 Some education officials say the culture wars is causing teachers to leave the profession.
01:17 We already have 8,000 teacher vacancies and well over 5,000 vacancies among our support staff,
01:23 our bus drivers, our custodians, our teacher assistants who work in the classroom side by side with teachers.
01:29 So obviously that's having a chilling effect because those folks are saying we're not going to stay around
01:34 and teach in an environment in which we can't do what's best for kids.
01:38 And then there are those of us who are staying who are saying we're going to fight for what is right.
01:43 Another problem teachers are dealing with is low pay.
01:46 This year, 25 states proposed bills to increase teacher salaries, but just nine succeeded.