Education
BY KELLY SCHAFLER
Fort Bend ISD will allow uncertified educators to teach a wider range of subjects beginning in the 2024-25 school year to alleviate its teacher shortage and expand the employment pipeline. FBISD already allowed uncertified educators to teach core subjects, career and technical education courses, and world languages; however, trustees voted July 22 to revise FBISD’s District of Innovation status to allow educators in more subjects. “[We] have to be very flexible and pursue all options to be able to get teachers in our classrooms,” Superintendent Marc Smith said during the meeting. FBISD to allow more uncertified teachers
Digging deeper
FBISD is among other school districts nation- wide that are challenged by an ongoing teacher shortage, with the district ending the 2023-24 school year with 85 teacher vacancies, trustee David Hamilton said. Texas’ teacher attrition rate, which is the rate teachers are leaving the profession, reached 13.72% in the 2022-23 school year—its highest since at least the 2011-12 school year, according to Texas Education Agency data. Additionally, the 2023 Texas Teacher Poll from the nonprofit Charles Butt Foundation showed 75% of teachers were seriously considering leaving their jobs. The 1,029 teachers surveyed cited pay and growing workloads paired with shrinking resources as stressors. To fill the need, districts are hiring more uncer- tified educators. Almost 34% of teachers hired for the 2023-24 school year in Texas were uncerti- fied—a rise from 18.98% in 2021-22, per TEA data.
Certification status of Texas’ new teacher hires in 2023-24
No Texas certification or permit: 33.75%
Intern certified: 9.98% Standard certified: 12.7% Re-entered industry: 31.14%
Out-of-state certified: 5.95% Previously part-timers: 3.37% Issued emergency permits: 3.09%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Expanding the waiver
Fort Bend ISD’s revision will expand the teacher pipeline by allowing uncertified educators in: • Noncore content area, such as alternative physical education through the district’s Kickstart Kids program • Out-of-grade band • Out-of-state certification
What else
Johnson said. Additionally, district staff have brought in 486 new teachers through the apprenticeship program for the 2024-25 school year. “We are committed to providing the support and training so that those teachers get the pedagogy and support that they need so they can be successful and then creating a pathway for them to actually earn their certification,” Smith said.
To strengthen the local pipeline, FBISD plans to continue its instructional apprenticeship program that launched last year, said Glenda Johnson, FBISD’s chief human resources officer. The program lets those with college degrees work in FBISD while completing their teacher certifications. Of the 273 apprentices who worked in FBISD last year, 54% are returning for the upcoming school year in some capacity,
Special education, pre-K and bilingual/English as a second language teachers must be certified.
SOURCE: FORT BEND ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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