SAN ANTONIO — Texas teachers hope the state can help solve the teacher shortages.
A new report released Friday from a statewide task force of teachers and administrators lays out the problems and proposes solutions to recruit and keep teachers in the classroom.
The problems facing the industry aren’t new to Wanda Longoria, president of the Northside American Federation of Teachers.
“Teachers are overstressed, they’re overworked, their environment at work is unsustainable and they’re crashing from beneath it all,” Longoria said.
The report says teacher pay, training and support, and improved working conditions are the top three areas that need to be addressed.
Money is at the top of the list—with the report saying previous pay raises have not kept up with inflation.
Texas legislators have filed bills to raise teacher pay by $15,000 a year, and give bonuses for support staff. The suggestion is to use the state’s budget surplus to pay for it.
The report says Texas ranks 28th in the country for average teacher salaries, according to data from the National Education Association.
“The state needs to prioritize these recommendations and they need to get parts of them implemented otherwise we’re back to square one,” Longoria said.
The report suggests expanding mental health resources for teachers. A Northside ISD spokesperson tells KENS 5 the district recently opened a clinic offering up to six, 45-minute therapy sessions for teachers each school year.
The Care Clinic can offer confidential counseling services to any Northside employee in for both English and Spanish-speaking employees.
“This is one of the most important jobs in our society,” Longoria said.
The report also suggests offering incentives to bilingual and special education positions.
One of the suggestions is for the Legislature to fund the development of a technical assistance network—designing strategic schedules that focus on reducing non-instructional tasks. Longoria says teachers don’t have enough planning time to catch up on work.
“TEA [regulations] have a 45-minute planning and prep time for them to plain their lessons. Listen, I was a teacher for 36 years, an hour didn’t do it for me a day,” Longoria hopes lawmakers will listen and learn from the report.