BY HALEY VELASCO
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national average in teacher pay,” Popinski said. There has also now been a rise in uncerti ed teachers becoming employed in school districts, according to the TEA. Locally, AISD has had the highest increase in hiring uncerti ed teachers, with percentages climbing nearly 25% from 2020-23, data from the TEA shows. While PISD in recent years has had a lower percentage of newly hired uncerti ed teachers, Sundie Dahlkamp, human resource services and communications executive director for PISD, said many uncerti ed teachers are still applying to work for the district. “We get lots of applications, and lots of peo- ple want to be teachers, but nding a quali ed applicant that meets the criteria of maybe even a long-term sub is more di cult than it used to be,” Dahlkamp said.
Bob Popinski, the senior policy director for Raise Your Hand Texas, an education policy nonpro t, said while retaining certi ed teachers has become a challenge for the state, he believes the main reason for teacher shortages right now is low pay. He said a “driving force” to low pay for teachers is in ation increasing about 22% since 2019. Texas has not raised student allotment funding for school districts, which is $6,160 per student, since 2019. That in part is causing budget short- falls for several Texas school districts, including for FISD, which is looking at a possible $1.4 million shortfall for the 2024-25 scal year. Money from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, funding that Texas public schools received in 2020 and 2021 to address pandemic-related learning loss also expires in September. “We are ranked … at $400 [per year] below the
Several institutions and organizations are looking to help bring more teachers into the profession. San Jacinto College in Pasadena launched in spring 2024 its second bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in early childhood education, college o cials said. Meanwhile, education advocates are hoping the next state legislative session, which begins Jan. 14, includes passing solutions recommended in the Teacher Vacancy Task Force, which was created in 2022. The task force is composed of teachers and school system leaders in public education across Texas. It proposed eight solutions for the Texas Legislature to consider in 2023 that revolved around increasing compensation, providing more support and training for new teachers, and helping teachers balance their time. Just one of the solutions passed during the 2023 session. Public education advocates such as Cave and Popinski said they believe passing the task force’s recommendations could help lessen the state’s teacher shortage. “Resources are not being allocated fairly to districts to help them with mitigating the shortage,” Cave said. “I wish that we would treat our teachers like the professionals that they are, and trust their word and allow them to do the good work that they do.”
New hires without a Texas teacher certi cation or permit
Teacher base pay
Alvin ISD Pearland ISD
Friendswood ISD Region 4
Alvin ISD
Friendswood ISD
Pearland ISD
$69,370
30%
$70K
29.3%
25%
$66,418
20%
$66,084
$65K
15%
15%
$63,917
10%
3.37%
5%
$60K
0%
$0
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT
Full-day Pre-K Needs Full-Day Funding
DID YOU KNOW?
The state requires full-day pre-K but only funds half the day.
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