Poor Greg. All he can do to address the severe teacher shortage we face in Texas is appoint a commission. I’ve spent the last five minutes studying the question, and here are some reasons people don’t want to work in Texas schools off the top of my head.
(Sorry if that seems impertinent, but if any teachers would like to comment, I’d love to hear your additional reasons.)
Let’s begin with how the governor and others in government have disrespected teachers to such a degree that, in recent years, that disrespect has risen to the point of abuse. Everyone wants some level of respect for what they do no matter what they’re paid.
Speaking of, let’s look at teachers’ pay: Between 2010 and 2019, the average salary for teachers decreased from $55,433 to $54,192. Nothing like a good pay decrease to keep people you’ve insulted and harassed happy.
(Actually that number’s an average. The average is down because average length of service has decreased — an indication that teachers just aren’t sticking with the profession, at least not in Texas. But that’s why you appointed the commission, right?)
Here’s another reason we have a teacher shortage: During the pandemic, some teachers died. Prohibiting mask mandates in schools actually killed people. Not following the science was murder. Telling people not to follow the science drove some teachers — especially science teachers — out of the profession.
Giving teachers additional chores is driving teachers out of the profession. Those jobs include requiring teachers to out their LGBTQ students to their parents.
Also, requiring teachers to report loving parents of trans students to CPS is driving teachers out of their profession.
Encouraging book burnings, which goes against everything a teacher stands for, is driving teachers away from teaching.
We remove LGBTQ teachers from their schools for sponsoring gay-straight alliances and punish them for mentioning that they are legally married in the state of Texas. One of those instances happened this school year in Texas. The other, which also happened in Texas, has never really been resolved, although the district paid the teacher a settlement.
Because we have no other choice, we’re requiring teachers to handle larger and larger classes.
We keep recruiting companies to move to Texas, but we don’t build enough new schools to keep up with the increased demand. And we let older schools deteriorate.
Hey, we have a bus driver shortage too. Recently I’ve noticed school buses dropping off kids in my neighborhood while I’m driving home from the office after 5 p.m. Why don’t we just ask the teachers to drive the school buses, too?
Greg, you’re not going to like these reasons. I understand. You’ll probably end up repudiating your own commission. Or you’ll instruct them to find different reasons — like, we’re not burning enough books. Or, we’re not bullying enough kids and throwing enough LGBTQ kids out of school. Blaming it on the gays has worked before. It’ll work again.
— David Taffet
