SHAYE BROWN IS UNIQUELY FAMILIAR WITH THE NATION’S teacher shortage. About a week into the school year, she learned that her 9-year-old son, who is in a specialized class for students with autism, would not have a full-time teacher because there were not enough of them at Paterson Public Schools in New Jersey. Instead, a substitute teacher is filling in. And on Sept. 12, she resigned from her job as a special-education teacher in the same district to take a better-paying job at a neighboring school. She knows her decision will make Paterson’s situation worse.
“I take being a special educator very seriously, but I have to care for my children,” says Brown, who makes $59,000 per year in Paterson. Her new district, which is about two miles away in Prospect Park, is paying her
