This editorial begins with math: In January 2020, the United States had 10.6 million public school teachers of grades K-12. By February 2022 the number was down to 10 million.

In August 2021, 37 percent of teachers told the National Education Association, one of the two largest teachers unions, that they wanted to leave the profession. Six months later, 55 percent said so. Members of the other large union, the American Federation of Teachers, responded the same way in July. At the state level, the Connecticut Education Association recently released the findings of a survey of more than 5,000 Connecticut teachers: 74 percent thinking of leaving.

The percentages keep rising. Three-quarters of our school districts’ teachers are mentally ready to call it quits, either putting in the time until their earliest possible retirement or moving to another line of work as soon as they can. Some are leaving mid-year. Some 600,000 have already gone.

A history lesson helps explain the math. Teachers say they feel undervalued, underpaid and burned out by workloads that soared with the departures that have already occurred. The Great Recession education budget cuts of 2009-2010 have persisted, while demands on classroom teachers have grown with the loss of achievement during the pandemic, school violence and pressure from parents to override the curriculum and dictate what will — or won’t — be taught.

Specifically, Connecticut teachers cited “increased student needs, standardized testing burdens, low salaries, mounting paperwork, unnecessary professional development, political attacks on teachers, and a rising staff deficit causing educators to teach more classes to more students” — all exacerbated by the pandemic, according to a Hartford Courant report.

Teachers also need respect to be able to model respect for this students. They feel second-guessed by a handful of vocal parents when, as trained, certified professionals, they deserve parents’ trust. Many also say material support has been so inadequate for so long that they feel they have been volunteered as mental health workers, providers of food and supplies to needy students, and their colleagues’ only recourse for classroom substitutes.

They are voting with their feet. And the so-called pipeline of future teachers is showing the effects as college students opt out after seeing the working conditions they can expect if they choose to teach.

It is clear to educators, to state legislative leaders, and to us, that a crisis this widespread is beyond the capabilities of any one school system to address effectively. CEA representatives met with legislators late last month, seeking bipartisan cooperation to address teachers’ needs if they are to stay with their calling. Teachers will be seeking staffing levels that reduce non-teaching duties, higher salaries, streamlining teacher evaluations, providing more support and prep time, and other measures to keep current faculty and attract new educators.

These will be tough conversations, not because of any lack of appreciation for what teachers do but because Connecticut still bases its patchwork educational support system on local property taxes supplemented by government grants. Many voices -- the governor, the state Department of Education, municipalities, teachers, school boards and administrators, parents and students — will need to be heard. It may become evident that sweeping change is the only sure way to address the crisis.

Like police officers, teachers live with the public’s expectation that they will always be there, doing their essential work. Teaching is not just a job, it is a vocation. They do this work because they feel called to it, but they are telling us that the system as is cannot sustain their calling.

If we believe that the future depends on children and young people being educated well, we ought to be very worried about the empty desks at the front of the classroom. Teachers — and children — deserve much better.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.