May marks a month of celebration; the sun is starting to shine, flowers are starting to bloom, and the school year is coming to a close. In the chaos and beauty of May, is Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to celebrate the professionals who are supporting and loving our state’s children.
In the midst of celebrations, we must also address an issue that affects both teachers and their families — the lack of support for parental leave in Utah. It is disheartening to see a state that places such emphasis on education fall short when it comes to providing adequate support for those who devote their lives to teaching.
Utah consistently ranks as one of the states with the lowest parental leave policies in the country. Our teachers face significant challenges when it comes to balancing their professional responsibilities with the demands of starting or expanding their families. This issue not only affects the teachers themselves, but also impacts the quality of education our students receive.
Teachers play an invaluable role in shaping the future of our society, their ability to effectively educate relies on a healthy well-being and work-life balance. Parental leave provides teachers with the necessary time and support to care for their newborns or adopted children, allowing them to bond with their families, and return to work feeling refreshed and ready to make a positive impact in the classroom.
The current situation in Utah is far from ideal. Teachers are often forced to choose between returning to work before they are ready or taking unpaid leave, which places an undue financial burden on their families. This lack of support not only affects teachers’ emotional well-being but also has a direct impact on their ability to provide the best possible education for their students. In a state where we are suffering from a mass teacher exodus, it’s time we face the fact that we need to invest in better policies for our educators.
An absence of comprehensive parental leave policies contributes to the ongoing struggle to attract and retain highly qualified educators. Utah has been grappling with a teacher shortage, and without adequate support, it becomes increasingly challenging to recruit and retain the best teachers. By neglecting to prioritize parental leave, we risk losing talented educators who may opt for opportunities in states with better family-friendly policies.
It’s also no coincidence that this burden tends to fall on a profession dominated by women. Along with other “pink collar” jobs such, as nursing or social work, we tend to show appreciation with cute gifts and themed weeks, when we desperately need to look toward policy.
What could a solution look like?
In January of this year, the House introduced a bill that would have directly addressed this problem — HB229 (Teacher Parental Leave and Postpartum Recovery Leave). With this bill educators would have been able to match the leave of government employees at 6 weeks paid leave. Teachers would have been able to donate paid leave hours to other teachers who had an insufficient balance. This would have covered educators who gave birth, or adopted a baby. It would have also supported any teacher who gave birth, but perhaps lost their child.
This bill, that would have helped many, failed on its third substitute.
As a teacher I have seen the hurt caused by the lack of policy and support in Utah. I have watched friends break their hearts by leaving newborns, as young as two weeks, in order to “get back to work.” I’ve watched fellow teachers begging to donate leave to support their coworkers, only to be told no. I’ve even seen those life-changing teachers walk away from a profession they love, because they are forced to choose between their family or their students.
We. Need. Change.
It’s time to rally around educators and demand a better parental leave policy. This Teacher Appreciation Week, take five minutes to write to your representatives vocalizing how important it is that these policies be established. Share on social media and ask friends and family to do the same. It is imperative that we invest in our teachers. When we support them, we support Utah as a whole.
Appreciate teachers by supporting better policies.
Marley McClune
Marley McClune is a public school family and consumer sciences teacher, education leadership and policy doctoral student at the University of Utah, Utah Teacher Fellow, and high school cheerleading coach.
