Dissatisfaction with teaching has hit a 40-year high in Texas, with 70% of teachers in the Lone Star State seriously considering leaving the profession this year, a new poll from the Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA) found.
During the last survey in 2018, 53% of the state's teachers said they were considering quitting. The survey is typically conducted every two years, but was omitted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the teachers association, there are a number of reasons for the poll's findings.
"Lingering stress from the pandemic is a factor, but it isn't the only one," TSTA President Ovidia Molina said. "Inadequate pay, political attacks on educators and the failure of state leaders to protect the health and safety of students and school employees also have combined to drive down the morale of teachers to the lowest level in recent memory and endanger our public school system."
As in many parts of the country, Texas is already struggling with a huge teacher shortage. The San Antonio Express-News reports that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set up a task force within the Texas Education Agency earlier this year to examine the problem and come up with solutions. Across the state, however, thousands of vacant teaching jobs remain with the school year about to begin and the problem appears likely to worsen if more teachers quit.
Of the 688 Texas teachers who responded to the survey, 94% said their professional stress increased because of the pandemic and 82% said their financial stress increased.
According to the poll, respondents taught for an average of 16 years and their average annual salary was $59,000, which is more than $7,000 below the national average, according to the teachers association.
Apart from salary considerations, on average, Texas teachers also have some of the worst retirement benefits of any state, a separate June study found. The Express-News reports that, since 2004, teachers who have retired have not received a cost-of-living adjustment; the state Legislature has passed some "13th check" bills to send extra annuity payments.
Abbott and state GOP lawmakers have recently passed a number of controversial education policies, over the opposition of teachers groups and education experts.
The Legislature placed restrictions on social studies curriculum last year, banning some discussions about racism, according to the Express-News.
Texas school districts were prohibited by Abbott from implementing mask mandates last fall as COVID-19 cases rose and schools are now being called on to censor books that feature topics such as race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Defending the measures as necessary to depoliticizing education and restoring power to families, Abbott is calling for a "Parental Bill of Rights" next year to return even more power over the public school system to parents.
"Many parents are growing increasingly powerless about what to do to regain that control," Abbott has previously said. "That must end. No government program can replace the role that parents play in the education of their children."
The TSTA poll was conducted online in late spring and early summer by Dr. Robert Maninger and Dr. Casey Creghan of the School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education at Sam Houston State University. It is part of an academic longitudinal study begun in 1980. No margin of error was provided.
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