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Educator panels and 3,000-person stakeholder survey stress career readiness, salaries and student mental health
Summary
APA told the Senate Education Committee that both small educator panels and a broader stakeholder survey favored a career-ready definition emphasizing behavioral skills; respondents flagged salary competitiveness, special education shortages and the need for more student mental-health resources and school-safety support.
Amanda Brown (APA) presented findings from two complementary efforts: about 125 educator-panel participants and a broader stakeholder survey with roughly 3,000 respondents from more than 170 districts and charter systems. APA used separate educator and community survey instruments to capture distinct perspectives.
Survey and panel responses ranked behavioral skills and learning capabilities among the highest-priority elements of a state definition of career readiness — APA reported roughly 81% of educators "strongly agreed" behavioral skills should be included. Community respondents expressed similar priorities but with slightly less intensity.
Both panels and the survey identified teacher recruitment and retention as central concerns. APA reported salary competitiveness — starting pay and salary growth — as the leading negative factor for attraction and retention, with shortages concentrated in special education, secondary math and science, CTE, bus drivers, custodians and school nurses. Panel recommendations included grow-your-own programs, licensure reciprocity and loan forgiveness as possible remedies; APA noted some concerns about sustainability when temporary funds are used for multi-year salary increases.
Educators and community respondents also repeatedly asked for more student mental-health services, student-safety investments (including school resource officers), dyslexia supports, and clearer transparency around how categorical and matrix funds are used. APA said educators tended to be more knowledgeable about district funding flows while teachers focused on classroom-level supports.
On sample representativeness, APA acknowledged the educator panels skewed toward district administrators (about 85 of the 125 participants) and said the stakeholder survey is intended to broaden teacher and community input; APA plans further disaggregation (urban/rural, role types) in follow-up reports.
Lawmakers asked whether flexibility in matrix dollars was leading to funds being moved between categories; APA said that district-level CFOs and administrators typically make those decisions and that the team will examine ESA allocations and spending flows in more detail in later work.
The committee scheduled further discussion of matrix line items in upcoming meetings and was told APA would present the matrix draft the next morning for review.
