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Texas officials urged to do more to support teachers amid shortage

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Cheryl Piccio | TFC News Houston

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WOuwfZ_LO1Q?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>Over the last two years, Texas&#x27; public education system has endured unprecedented hardship, from shifting to online classes, COVID-19 and mandatory masks, to school safety in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Uvalde where 19 elementary school students and two teachers were killed.Texas teachers have borne the weight of these issues and it has taken a severe toll. Texas has had a teacher shortage for many years, but experts say the pandemic has made conditions worse, pushing teachers beyond their limits and even out of the profession.&quot;The government should find a long-term solution to this matter. Teachers should be paid equally and fairly, involve teachers in decision making and the government should spend more money on providing support to teachers in the classroom rather than focusing on state exams,&quot; school teacher Ellen Payne said.The average pay for teachers in Texas decreased between 2010 and 2019, according to a University of Houston report released this year.Texas teacher Roselle Rosenbeck said that pay has not kept up with the rapidly rising cost of living, driving them to seek better means to support their families.&quot;Many teachers are working two jobs just to provide for their family so if someone offers you a job, you&#x27;re gonna go for it if it gives you better pay and a better opportunity to provide for your family. You will grab that,&quot; Rosenbeck noted.According to the Texas State Teachers Association, almost 43,000 teachers in Texas didn&#x27;t return to the school districts where they worked the previous year - the highest the state has seen in over a decade.Some small districts are moving to four-day school weeks to deal with the crisis.Teacher Michelle Quinagon urges school administrations to do more to support the teachers.&quot;It&#x27;s more hours, more stress and yet they&#x27;re trying to say &#x27;take care of your mental health&#x27; but it&#x27;s not happening. So it&#x27;s like this, you&#x27;re telling me I need to take care of myself and my sanity, but you&#x27;re actually doing the opposite. So some teachers just say I&#x27;m done,&quot; Quinagon said.As of July 5, there were approximately 854 openings for certified teachers in the Houston school district, with no sign of improvement on the horizon.Texas Governor Greg Abbott has formed a task force to find solutions to the unprecedented teacher vacancies.Filipinos currently rank among the highest in America’s search and recruitment of grade school and high school teachers. Some 800 Filipino teachers are now being recruited for Texas alone.

Texas has had a teacher shortage for many years, but experts say the pandemic has made conditions worse.