Tired, frustrated teachers are quitting over pay, student discipline. What can we do?

Like many school districts across Texas, Fort Worth ISD is short on teachers.

Vacancy numbers vary, but in fall 2021, Keller ISD had 30 teacher openings, Denton had 10 and Frisco reported 40. That’s to say nothing of substitute or other staff needs.

The number of certified teachers Fort Worth ISD employs peaked in 2017 at 5,753, according to the Texas Education Agency, and had dropped to 5,550 in 2020, even after the Legislature raised teacher salaries in 2019. Enrollment has dipped in that time, too.

Even if they don’t quit, many teachers are unhappy. In a Charles Butt Foundation poll of 919 Texas teachers last year, 68% said they seriously considered leaving the profession in 2021, up 10 percentage points up from the prior year. While the shortage existed even before the pandemic, COVID exacerbated it, especially during the omicron surge in January.

There’s little we can do about the COVID effect now except learn from it, but it’s important to understand that it created a tipping-point that magnified problems that already existed in school.

From struggles with virtual lessons and helping students with significant learning loss to dealing with kids being quarantined or even coming down with COVID themselves, teachers have spent the last two years trying to repair a system already fraught with flaws.

Fort Worth ISD is trying. A career fair advertised on-the-spot-offers and bonuses for qualified teachers. And on the highways approaching the Oklahoma and Louisiana borders, recruitment billboards advertise competitive pay starting at $58,000 annually. “Your future is in a Fort Worth classroom,” the billboard reads.

The district is on to something in trying to woo teachers with salary, although even $58,000 seems low. Clay Robison, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, says educators simply aren’t paid enough.

“Probably the biggest single reason for teacher shortages overall is inadequate pay, although the pandemic has made the situation worse,” Robison said. Even with the 2019 raises, Texas is $7,000 behind the average of states’ pay, he said.

In any Texas-based teacher support Facebook group, inadequate salary and benefits often trigger discussion. Another common frustration cited is out-of-control student behavior and a lack of support for teachers who discipline kids or enforce rules.

A veteran North Texas teacher told us that although she’s considered quitting, she doesn’t want to lose her benefits. She’s decided to teach just until retirement age, she said. She spoke only on condition of anonymity because of fears about retribution for speaking out.

Most students are well-behaved, but it just takes a few per classroom to disrupt other students or create an unsafe environment, she said.

“You could see a student lingering in the hallway and tell him to get to class, and he’ll look at you and say, ‘Shut up, [expletive],’ ” she said. “No one feels like they can reprimand the student, so no one does. Now, teachers just ignore stuff like that.”

She said she’s noticed students have suffered from the pandemic, academically and in terms of maturity.

“I’ve told a junior in high school it’s not OK to just break a pencil,” she said.

To be sure, there’s no one solution to teacher shortages – the issue is complex. In the small Chico district in Wise County, the district is shifting to a four-day week, in part to help attract and keep teachers. That’s not a solution for every district, especially not large ones where many working parents would have difficulty finding child care. But it’s the kind of creative approach that’s necessary.

School districts should, at the very least, review their budgets thoroughly and look for ways to shift money to teacher pay. Every district should examine departments to ensure every single one is necessary and every dollar going toward them is crucial.

Must districts have extensive curriculum staff when the state largely dictates what should be taught? Leaders should look for any administrative overlap that could free up funds.

Schools must be a safe environment. There’s no reason so much red tape should hinder enforcement of basic rules. Smaller class sizes might help, but of course, the shortage would have to be addressed first.

Not having enough educators is a problem for schools, teachers and, most of all, our kids. At a time when many children need additional direction and help, we can’t have distracted, burned out teachers on the job. Districts should make retention a high priority.