Diminishing retention Administrators at area school districts said while the problem of teacher and staff retention has been greatly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue has been growing for years. A 2021 report from public school advocacy group Raise Your Hand Texas measures retention rates for first-year teachers throughout Texas starting with the 2010-11 school year.
Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto ISDs pay substitute teachers a daily rate similar to neighboring districts. In all districts, rates vary and depend on experience and certifications.
Substitute pay
Minimum pay
Maximum pay
$250
Baseline for number of first year teachers
$200
2010-11
2011-12: 87.5%
$150
2012-13: 79.7%
$100
2013-14: 73.6%
$50
2014-15: 69.3%
2015-16: 64%
$0
SCHOOL DISTRICT
2016-17: 60%
SOURCES: AUSTIN, EANES, GEORGETOWN, HUTTO, LEANDER, PFLUGERVILLE AND ROUND ROCK ISDS/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
2017-18: 56%
2018-19: 52.7%
and about 20 custodial vacancies as of mid-January. Prior to the pandemic, Spence said any number of teacher vacancies over 20 would be considered high. “Sixty is far and away the most vacancies that I’ve ever seen at this point,” she said. Similarly, at HISD, Director of Human Capital Lindsie Almquist said the district has had the most staff vacancies in the 2021-22 school year than any year prior. HISD is also experiencing shortages across the board from teachers to subs to custodians to bus drivers to cafete- ria workers. “In the two years that I have served as the director of human capital, we have had the most teacher vacancies for the longest amount of time in the last … four to five months that we have ever had,” Almquist said. Moving forward Administrators said they cannot predict when the immediate spike in absences or the longer-term staffing shortage will become more manage- able for their respective districts, but they continue to initiate and approve measures to help stop the bleeding. At RRISD, Lacoste-Caputo said offi- cials are considering more pay boost measures for certain staff, including substitutes. “These aren’t things that have been put in place yet, but they’re things that are under consideration right now,” she said. Keeping staff on board and miti- gating vacancies are a problem that
districts nationwide are trying to solve, Spence said. Because of that, PfISD is also ramp- ing up efforts toward that end—from increased job fairs to pay increases for all staff to grants to help expedite the process of getting educational associ- ates certified to be teachers. “Teachers and public educa- tion staff are honestly modern-day heroes,” she said. “They’re filling in in a myriad of ways to take care of students. We’re doing everything we can to compensate for that and show them that we need them.” HISD continues to take similar actions to retain staff, including most recently paying out a $300 stipend in December to staff members who worked during the 2020-21 school year and returned for the 2021-22 school year. She said the district also increased the daily minimum pay rate for sub- stitute teachers to $120. Almquist said it will remain crucial for HISD and districts everywhere to continue finding ways to keep jobs in education sustainable. “We absolutely cannot sustain the future of our country unless we feed into these people that are serving these children,” she said. “And we cannot fix everything, … but we can provide a narrative that if we did not have a teacher, … you and I would not be here today because we would not be as successful as we are.”
2019-20: 49.8%
0
12,000 9,000 NUMBER OF TEACHERS RETAINED SINCE 2010-11 6,000 3,000
15,000
SOURCES: AUSTIN ISD, CEDAR PARK ISD, EANES ISD, GEORGETOWN ISD, HUTTO ISD, PFLUGERVILLE ISD AND ROUND ROCK ISD/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Numerous employees and officials throughout Hutto, Round Rock and Pflugerville ISDs have weighed in on the ongoing staffing shortage. Voices from the staffing crisis
“OVERALL, INMY 15 YEARS INPUBLIC EDUCATION, THIS IS THEMOST SHORT STAFFED WE’VE BEEN INABROADNUMBEROF AREAS.” TAMRA SPENCE, PFLUGERVILLE ISD CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER “[ROUNDROCK ISD] NEEDS SUBS. THEY CAN’T GET ENOUGH SUBS, BUT I’M JUST SCAREDOF GOING BECAUSE I’MSCAREDOF CATCHING COVID.” LILLIAN SIMMONS, ROUND ROCK ISD SUBSTITUTE TEACHER “IN THE TWOYEARS THAT I HAVE SERVEDAS THE DIRECTOROF HUMAN CAPITAL, WE HAVE HAD THEMOST TEACHERVACANCIES FOR THE LONGEST AMOUNT OF TIME IN THE LAST…FOUR TO FIVEMONTHS THATWE HAVE EVERHAD.” LINDSIE ALMQUIST, HUTTO ISD DIRECTOR OF HUMAN CAPITAL
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
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ROUND ROCK EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022
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