SAN ANTONIO — On Saturday, Edgewood ISD held a job fair looking to fill vacant positions for teachers, officers and bus drivers.
"Getting enough candidates has been a challenge for all school districts." said Superintendent Dr. Eduardo Hernandez.
Specifically teacher vacancies. Hernandez says at this point last year, they were fully staffed, but this year, as of Friday, there were about 30 teacher vacancies in the Edgewood ISD District. Hernandez does credit his school board for increasing salaries, incentives and retention pay.
According to the district, starting teachers salaries at Edgewood are among the highest in the county at $58,500, including a $2,000 signing bonus.
In 2023, the state of Texas recorded a historic budget surplus, but little was done for increases for public schools.
"Not only did we not get an increase in teacher pay, we did not get an increase in basic allotment. It is totally unacceptable." said Dr. Jaime Aquino, superintendent for San Antonio ISD.
Aquino said SAISD recently passed the largest pay increase in 25 years, but it came at a cost of $21 million.
Aquino says he had to cut the funds from school services, and the increase came before the legislative session ended, because they were not hopeful state leaders would help districts.
Aquino said Texas ranks 45th in the U.S. in per-pupil spending. He says state leaders need to invest in public schools.
District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello-Havrda, whose district encompasses Northside ISD and Edgewood ISD, says the lack of teachers is a citywide issue.
Cabello-Havrda says the city has been looking at creative ways to help, including meeting mental health needs and new homebuyer assistance program.
"We have to do what we can as a city to ensure that are making it easy for our teachers to stay," she said.