The U.S. is the sole high-income country that lacks guaranteed paid parental leave for school employees, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality’s (NCTQ) January report State of the States: Investing in Teachers and Families Through Paid Parental Leave. This leaves teachers, a woman-dominated field, without needed support and causes many to exit the profession or never enter it at all.
“Without access to meaningful paid leave, teachers often resort to hoarding sick days or even timing pregnancies around summer break to avoid unpaid time away from their classrooms. But that’s not always possible. Denying teachers paid parental leave is unsustainable for the profession, harmful to families, and costly for schools,” the report states.
NCTQ asserts that paid parental leave aids in stabilizing the workforce, attracting teachers and building strong families — having access to leave has been connected to decreased rates of postpartum depression, better outcomes for mothers and more engagement in parenting from fathers.
“When teachers have dedicated time to devote to the newest members of their family, they can return to the classroom ready to focus on what matters: improving student outcomes,” NCTQ states.
However, according to the report, 15 percent of those who leave teaching cite reasons like pregnancy, childbirth and caring for family.
Nationally, just one in three teachers has access to paid parental leave (14 percentage points less than rates for other working adults) and less than half feel their paid parental leave is adequate.
For a district, replacing one teacher can cost between $11,000-$25,000 and turnover can negatively impact student performance.
NCTQ outlines three policy levers that states and policymakers may consider to strengthen and stabilize the educator workforce, including:
- Requiring districts to provide a minimum of 12 weeks of paid parental leave for teachers beyond sick days
- Guaranteeing teachers on paid parental leave get their full salary for the duration of their leave
- Extending leave eligibility/benefits to all teachers becoming parents, including fathers, non-birthing parents and adoptive and foster parents
California
Among the report’s accompanying resources are state-specific recommendations.
While 16 states currently require districts to offer paid parental leave for teachers, California is one of dozens that don’t.
With 268,195 teachers in the state according to NCTQ, roughly 3,178 are expected to leave teaching annually due to family reasons. “If paid parental leave can keep 20 percent of those teachers from leaving, California could keep about 636 more teachers in the classroom,” the state summary reads.
California doesn’t have many of the report’s recommended policies in place including requiring districts to offer paid parental leave beyond sick days to teachers, offering parental leave for all parents, mandating a service requirement for teachers to be eligible for leave or providing funds to cover long-term substitute pay. There are also no requirements around parental leave length and compensation.
In addition to the recommendations outlined above, the report calls for the state to also:
- Provide districts with funds to pay for substitute costs during the 12-week leave
- Require an annual report on the impact of paid parental leave
NCTQ also released a paid parental leave calculator tool, case studies on policies in Delaware and Arkansas and model policy language.
