Educators in Georgia are sounding the alarm about the state of the teaching profession, citing political pressures and low morale as key factors deterring new talent.

With the election less than 30 days away, education has become a central issue for some candidates, from classroom safety to controversial comments by GOP vice-presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio. Vance has criticized people without children for being teachers.

Verdaillia Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers, warned such concerns, compounded by the recent school shooting in Winder, have intensified fears the teacher shortage could grow even worse.

"Georgia has about 21,000 vacancies," Turner pointed out. "That's what's posted, in terms of just the teaching personnel. And that's not counting the support personnel that we are in dire need of."

She argued teachers need immediate support with the everyday challenges they face, to help recruit and retain talent. She emphasized the need for leaders with close ties to the classroom who understand these issues and can develop more effective policies.

Grace Miller, a middle school teacher and union member, echoed the concerns. She emphasized schools face critical challenges in ensuring safety for students and staff, and thinks more could be done to mentor teachers in their demanding roles. Miller pointed to policies she thinks would enhance educators' sense of security and well-being.

"Those policies, as far as class sizes, pay, benefits, incentives, programs that can help teachers mentally, they just have to be mandated," Miller contended.

She added that better policies around safety reporting also are needed, as well as ensuring teachers have the right to unionize.

Vickie O'Donnell, a longtime teacher and union member, is convinced teachers' emotional well-being is critical for a healthy education system. She believes a supportive community can foster resilience, enabling them to focus on their students while also inspiring prospective teachers.

"It is very, very fulfilling, if you have a heart for it," O'Donnell explained. "I have a lot of student teachers that come through my classroom and I hope they see the passion in me for it."

O'Donnell emphasized that investing in teachers ultimately benefits students.

A new study shows free speech is increasingly under assault on college campuses from both right and left. The nonpartisan, nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, known as FIRE, surveyed 58,000 college students, asking them about campus culture when it comes to comfort expressing ideas, tolerance for speakers, disruptive conduct, administration support, openness and self-censorship.

Sean Stevens, chief research advisor for FIRE said threats to speech come from all sides.

"It's not just left-wing faculty or students going after more conservative faculty and students for inviting Ben Shapiro to campus," he explained. "It's now with the federal government and whatever right-wing faculty there might be left and the students going after left-leaning speech. So now you've got almost everybody facing these threats."

Six private religious institutions, including Pepperdine University in Malibu, fell into the highly
intolerant "warning" category. Harvard scored the lowest, with USC, Pomona College and UC Davis not far behind. UCLA and USC fell into the middling "below average" category.

Schools struggled to uphold free-speech rights as dueling protests overtook many college campuses in 2024. Stevens said the Trump administration's crackdown on universities and foreign students, ostensibly in the name of fighting antisemitism, has raised the stakes.

"There's a much bigger cause for concern, because now it's also coming from the government," he continued. "So, faculty really need to step up. Because students are rightfully concerned that if they say the wrong thing, that the hammer might come down on them."

The data show that around 2020 we saw an uptick in punishments for speech and expression around the topic of police violence toward African Americans. Later, other issues took center stage, including sexual harassment, abortion rights, transgender rights and the Israel-Gaza war.


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As school districts across Texas continue to work around budget shortfalls, members of American Federation of Teachers-Texas hope the latest version of the school funding bill before lawmakers will help.

House Bill 2, which has passed the Senate, includes money for overhauling special education and funding full-day pre-K.

Nicole Hill, communications director for the American Federation of Teachers-Texas, said the bill also includes much needed pay increases.

"In addition to dedicated teacher pay raises there is now a support staff allotment that will guarantee that everybody who helps our kids every day from our bus drivers to our custodians to our counselors, will also get pay raises out of this deal," Hill outlined.

The $8.5 billion funding bill now goes back to the House and if approved, it will go to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

The measure is one of the largest education investments in the state's history and includes an increase in the amount of funding available per student. Hill noted while they are happy with the increases, there is still more to do.

"It does meet some needs," Hill acknowledged. "It is a good step forward but it's not going to solve all the problems districts are facing. And we're still going to have districts in tricky situations where they are debating school closures or layoffs or cuts to student programs."

Lawmakers have already approved a $1 billion voucher program, which will allow families to use public taxpayer dollars to fund their children's private school tuition.

Education is a major challenge for kids in foster care in Pennsylvania, according to a new report.

Nearly 20,000 children and teens are served by Pennsylvania's foster care system each year.

Maura McInerney, legal director for the nonprofit Education Law Center-Pennsylvania, said the report identifies policy recommendations to improve educational outcomes for them.

"The report shows that academic performance and other outcomes of students in foster care are negatively impacted by systemic failures that are fixable," McInerney outlined. "Including high rates of school mobility, unmet special education needs, higher rates of school discipline and systemic racism."

One recommendation is for child welfare agencies to place kids in foster care closer to their home communities, to help keep them in the same schools. It was released jointly by the Education Law Center and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.

The study showed students in foster care are three times more likely to be disciplined through out-of-school suspensions and twice as likely to face in-school suspensions than other students. McInerney pointed out it is important for teachers, educators and staff to understand children in the foster care system have experienced significant trauma and may have "triggers" other students do not have.

"For example, I represented a child in foster care who, if you raised your hands above your head, that child would feel that she was now going to be abused, because she was being threatened in that way," McInerney reported.

McInerney stressed 53% of foster youth graduate from high school on time, compared to 88% of other students. She added kids in congregate care often get lower-quality education with little oversight. She noted many attend on-site or virtual classes through private programs, which are not regularly monitored by the Department of Education.

"Studies show that children who are placed in congregate care settings, such as residential facilities, and educated through on-ground schools often receive an inferior education and exhibit lower academic performance, which we see detailed in this report," McInerney underscored.

The report suggested better data is needed to track school stability and placement for students in foster care. Many are in virtual or out-of-district schools instead of their local community schools.


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