News in the headlines this week that high rates of teacher burnout are being reported across the state of Georgia comes as no surprise. 

In a statewide study, approximately 31% of educators say they are unlikely or highly unlikely to remain in education for another five years.

A task force commissioned by the state department of education indicated, among other things, teachers are fed up with redundant testing, a lack of input and reduced amount of planning time. 

Pay is also an issue. 

The average starting pay for Georgia teachers is just over $38,000 ranking Georgia number 35 in the nation, according to National Education Association. NEA ranks Georgia No. 21 in the nation for average teacher pay, which is just over $60,000, the highest among all states in the South.

Gov. Brian Kemp made good on a  2018 campaign pledge to pay Georgia teachers an extra $5,000 in two installments. Democrat gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams recently announced a four-year plan to increase the starting pay for teachers to $50,000 and the average teacher salary to $75,000 annually, basing the proposal on Georgia tax collections growing at 3% per year.

Lawmakers must also understand that teachers, for the most part, just want to teach. 

That is what they signed up for, and they do not want to be caught up in a game of political football. 

Educators, not legislators, should make decisions about what and how to teach. 

Teachers are not politicians and have no desire to be. They are professionals who have spent years learning how to teach and what to teach. They simply do not need and do not want agenda-driven, pandering politicians and bureaucrats looking over their shoulders ready to pounce at any mention of subject matter which those politicians find objectionable. 

The General Assembly passed laws this year that make teachers feel paranoid and targeted. Because politicians wanted to pander to a certain percentage of their constituency, they passed laws designed to punish teachers and school systems for discussions about race, slavery and civil rights, among other things. The laws essentially say a teacher must not make any student feel uncomfortable. 

How can we not all feel uncomfortable with the atrocities of slavery? 

If fact, if slavery does not make you uncomfortable, there is something seriously wrong with you. 

Our teachers should be respected and trusted to teach these subjects, and all subjects, in a responsible, professional and appropriate way. That’s what they are trained to do. That is their job. 

Yes, teachers should be adequately paid, they should have the appropriate amount of planning time and they should be trusted to do their jobs. 

Jim Zachary is the editor of The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s director of newsroom training and development and president emeritus of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.