House kills measure to discuss obstacles to teaching careers

The House voted to kill a resolution that supporters said would have helped Virginia’s teacher shortage by instructing the Department of Education to study teaching requirements.

HJ 654, proposed by Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, specifically addressed obstacles standing in the way of prospective minority teachers.

“This issue is something I have been hoping to address for a long time,” he said.

Bagby, who served as a Henrico County School Board member, wanted to know if there any specific biases preventing minorities from entering the teaching profession.

“As a former teacher, I know for sure that students benefit from seeing someone that looks like them in the school building,” Bagby said.

A majority of teachers in public schools are white and about 50 percent of students nonwhite, according to statistics from the Department of Education.

Bagby said he wants to increase the diversity of teachers in the classroom since 15 percent of Virginia teachers are of color while nationally the number is 20 percent.

Kylan Jones, an assistant preschool teacher in Henrico, has been studying in college to prepare for becoming a certified teacher and doesn’t want to let any obstacles get in the way of her dream career.

One issue that Jones faces has been getting the necessary credit hours for her program and finding time to work. Students who plan to be teachers in Virginia have to major in the field in which they plan to teach, which for some students can be hard to earn their degree and find enough time for student teaching hours.

Virginia schools have been experiencing normal amounts of vacancies, even though Virginia teacher earn on average $8,000 less than the national average.

Jones hasn’t been deterred from teaching, despite the low pay and challenges that she had faced.

“I want to be the best teacher as possible but I don’t want to get frowned upon because I’m a person of color,” Jones said.