Education
Transportation
BY HANNAH NORTON CONTRIBUTIONS BY DAVE MANNING
BY SHAHERYAR KHAN & DANICA LLOYD
Report: Nearly 70% of Texas teachers considering quitting
Telge Road construction to continue this year Harris County Precinct 3 recently completed roadwork at the intersection of Boudreaux and Telge roads, and ocials conrmed work will pick up on additional portions of Telge Road this year. The update At the end of March, crews nished installing a trac signal and rehabilitating the asphalt roadway at the intersection. The $1.3 million project spanned across Harris County precincts 3 and 4, with management by Precinct 3 and funding contributions from both. What’s next Precinct 3 is working on three other portions of Telge Road. Each project involves converting a two-lane asphalt road with roadside ditches to a four-lane divided concrete road with a median, including storm sewer installation, ocials said.
Gessner Road extension wraps up Following delays, a project to extend and rebuild Gessner Road from West Road to Fallbrook Drive is coming to an end. The project is expected to open to drivers in mid-April, ocials with Harris County Precinct 1 conrmed. New trac lights at Fallbrook Drive and Windfern Road were also included. Long story short Construction on the four-lane roadway dates back to the summer of 2021 when the project was in Harris County Precinct 4’s jurisdiction, Community Impact previously reported. Boundaries were redrawn in late 2021, putting Gessner Road in Precinct 1. The project was put on hold again in May 2022 when a previous contractor left the project, and work resumed in early 2023.
Upcoming projects
Telge Road – Phase 6 • Scope: widening from north of Grant Road to the Grand Parkway • Cost: $17 million budget • Timeline: anticipated bidding phase in 2026
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Most Texas teachers are feeling burnt out, and many have considered leaving the profession, according to a Feb. 27 report from the Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers. Public school employees surveyed said low salaries and excessive workloads were among their biggest concerns. Over 3,200 union members were surveyed from Jan. 23-Feb. 13, months after Texas lawmakers declined to raise teacher salaries amid a ght over public subsidies for private education. What they’re saying Cy-Fair ISD teacher Patrick Cooney said he believes the state has not provided adequate resources for teachers. “A content teacher who feels valued is an immea- surable positive inuence to all the students that teacher talks to, whether it’s in the classroom, or in the hallway, or on the athletic eld,” Cooney said in a video provided by the Texas AFT. “Teachers need to get paid more, period.”
Over 13% of teachers left public education between fall 2021 and fall 2022, according to Texas Education Agency data. Texas AFT President Zeph Capo characterized this as a “record high” attrition rate as some school districts are cutting their budgets and struggling to ll job openings. Also of note CFISD Superintendent Doug Killian in a Feb. 27 statement asked for input from the community on how the district can generate new revenue and cut costs. He said Texas school districts have not received an increase in funding from the state Legislature since 2019. Community Impact previously reported CFISD is expecting a $73.6 million shortfall in 2023-24. “There are always unanticipated consequences to recommendations, and we will evaluate all of the ideas to see what can be implemented and with the least impact on the exceptionalness of the students, sta and district,” Killian said in the statement.
Educators weigh in
GRAND PKWY.
Three-quarters of surveyed K-12 employees said they experienced burnout in the past year. 69% of educators surveyed said they considered quitting their job in the past year. Texas educators reported working an average of 50 hours per week. One- fth of teachers said they worked a second job outside of their school district. Implementing a 1% pay increase across CFISD costs more than $9 million .
GRANTRD.
Telge Road – Phase 5 • Scope: widening from north of Telge Ranch Road to north of Grant Road • Cost: $11 million • Timeline: anticipated bidding phase in 2025 Telge Road – Phase 4 • Scope: widening from north of Louetta Road to north of Telge Ranch Road • Cost: $11 million • Timeline: bidding phase irst quarter of 2024; construction slated for third quarter of 2024
TELGE RANCH RD.
LOUETTA RD.
SOURCES: TEXAS AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, CY FAIR ISD, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT
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SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY PRECINCT 3 COMMUNITY IMPACT
HUFFMEISTER 8945 Hwy 6 N (281) 859-5879 SPRING CYPRESS 22508 Hwy 249 (281) 379-7383
BARKER CYPRESS 17996 FM 529 (281) 656-4200 JONES ROAD 17414 NW Fwy (713) 983-8827
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