teacher shortage

Underprepared teachers have been tied to student learning losses. But amid a teacher shortage crisis, school leaders fear the restrictions will lead to fewer instructors in their classrooms.

Gov. Greg Abbott named raising teacher pay as one of seven emergency items for this legislative session. The push for higher salaries comes as most teachers in the state weigh whether staying in the profession is worth it.

Even though funding measures advocated for by 2018 Oklahoma Teacher Walkout participants were stymied largely by Republican lawmakers, Oklahoma’s GOP is now authoring record-level education funding measures that include teacher raises, along with a slew of labor rights bills for educators. But the funding bills are far from a done deal — in fact, due to a disagreement in how those bills should operate, there could be no deal at all.

A group of education deans from public universities in Kansas say the state needs to raise teacher pay, elevate the profession and offer student teachers a paycheck — rather than just another tuition bill — while they work in classrooms.

The Government Accountability Office has released a report analyzing the nationwide teacher shortage in the US. The report lists low pay and a growing negative perception of teachers as the top reasons for dropping retention rates within the profession.

A growing number of teachers in Texas public schools aren’t going through the state’s regular certification process.

Few schools have been able to keep up with the recent wave of teacher resignations.

Texas schools have long had too few teachers. The pandemic made the situation worse — but issues like low pay, poor benefits and polarizing statewide politics all have an impact, too.

The switch to four-day school weeks is popular among smaller school districts that don’t always have the finances to attract or retain teachers with pay increases.

In cities across the country, teachers are almost always in demand. And amid the so-called “Great Resignation,” that may be truer now than ever. Until school starts in August, it’s impossible to know exactly how many teachers Texas will be in need. But some Dallas instructors suspect a higher-than-typical number of their colleagues won’t return to class this fall.