Low pay, high stress: No wonder teachers are quitting. How Texas can fight the shortage

It’s no secret there’s a teacher shortage in Texas and nationwide. The reasons are multi-faceted, and the solutions are just as complex. But teachers are a vital component of education, and a robust education is one of the pillars of a healthy society. We need to fix this — and fast.

The teacher shortage has been acute during the pandemic, with challenges such as remote learning and teachers facing greater risk for contracting the virus than students. But it’s only worsened a shortage that’s likely been in the making for years, if not decades.

Texas Education Agency data shows that around 10% percent of teachers have been leaving the field for about a decade, and that spiked last year to 11.6%. About 1,000 more teachers retired in fiscal year 2021 than in the previous year. Even though Texas employed 370,431 teachers in the 2021-2022 school year, the most it has on record, it’s still not enough for a public school enrollment that had been steadily increasing until the 2019-20 school year.

National Education Association President Becky Pringle has called teachers leaving their jobs a “five-alarm crisis.” The union would know; their polling on teacher shortages is grim but provides insight into the morale issues behind the numbers.

Four-in-five teachers think burnout is a problem. The same percentage say being overworked spurs unhappiness, and nearly as many say being underpaid is cause for considering early retirement, which 55% say they’re doing.

There are also fewer teachers going into the profession at large. In 1975, nearly 22% of college students majored in education. By 2015, 7% opted to study education in college. Fewer women major in education than ever before, from 32% to 11% in the same timeframe, with many migrating to STEM, healthcare, and communications.

Policymakers are aware of the shortage, of course. In March, Gov. Greg Abbott announced the formation of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force to brainstorm solutions, but they’re needed now. What can we do?

One of the main complaints for teachers is pay. According to a University of Houston report, average pay for Texas teachers didn’t improve from 2010 to 2019; in fact, it went down a bit. Granted, they do make slightly more than the average salary in DFW, but for the hours teachers work, and the importance of what they do, they deserve better pay. School districts that are top-heavy with dozens of six-figure administrative salaries should re-evaluate priorities. With inflation rising, stagnant salaries are downright devastating.

Teachers are overworked. Student to teacher ratios are high, often anywhere from 25-30 kids per teacher. That’s too many, especially when you consider the range of learning styles and abilities in any given classroom. If schools can’t afford to give every class an aide, they must find ways to hire more who can “roam” or split time between classrooms. This helps students and teachers with the workload and provides extra support for both under- and higher-performing students.

Political wars over books and lessons are surely exhausting many educators, too. Parents and taxpayers have every right to examine what’s being taught and hold leaders accountable. But too many individual teachers are caught in the crossfire. Few want to “indoctrinate” anyone, and they deserve to be trusted until they prove unworthy.

Administrators also need to work to improve the school experience overall. School should inspire more kids to want to teach, but it won’t if their experience was frustrating, troubling, or unsafe. Allow teachers, especially at the high school level, flexibility with classroom settings and certain rules so learning can be fun and challenging and their students can thrive.

A rewarding school experience would help administrators have more success encouraging students to become teachers and give back to their neighborhoods and communities.

This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 5:04 AM.