Chapter 12: Negative Discourse and False Claims: Confronting the Myths and Lies That Devalue Teachers and the Teaching Profession

South Carolina is frequently described as being amidst a teacher labor market crisis (Mintzer, 2021; Thomas, 2018), influenced by teacher recruitment, attrition, and vacancy challenges across the state. According to the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA, 2021), estimates from the 2021 school year suggest that within a 3-month timeframe (December 2020 to February 2021), an average of approximately 170 teachers left their positions each month, with 500 vacancies still unfilled at the end of that period. In years prior, the state has seen a trend of declining enrollment in in-state teacher preparation programs (an average of 1705.4 from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021) and an increase in teachers who leave their positions (an average of 6,634.4 from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021).