Weeks into school year, districts struggling to hire teachers, staff
Some school districts in the Houston region are seeing more staff vacancies and experiencing more difficulty filling substitute teacher roles this school year, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ongoing national teacher shortage has been exacerbated by teachers’ health concerns and frustrations over districts’ COVID responses. Adding to the problem in Texas, some say, is a lack of state guidance and funding for paid leave for staff who miss work due to exposure to the virus.
Katy ISD, for example, had more than 500 jobs open as of Wednesday, 21 days after the district welcomed students back to campus for the 2021-22 school year. Of those openings, 146 were teacher positions.
It is not alone.
Santa Fe ISD has seen a rise in vacancies and resignations in several areas, including food service, transportation and custodial workers, spokeswoman Patti Hanssard said.
Goose Creek CISD had 279 job openings as of Wednesday, including 51 food service positions, 30 transportation workers, 26 custodial employees and more than 20 special education roles.
“These positions are harder to fill due to COVID,” communications director Kristyn Cathey said.
National surveys indicate a growing number of educators and school staff now want to leave their
professions due to lagging support and pay, which is expected to lead to a shortage of qualified job candidates in the coming years.
Of the 2,690 teachers surveyed by the National Education Association in June, 32 percent said the pandemic has prompted them to leave their jobs earlier than they had intended. A RAND Corp. study, also released in June, found that nearly 1 in 4 teachers may leave their jobs at the end of this school year.
Almost a month into its school year, Fort Bend ISD is trying to hire 102 additional full-time teachers, 135 bus drivers and 35 nutrition workers, among other openings, spokeswoman Sherry Williams said.
Vacancies in Alief ISD fluctuate daily, spokesman Craig Eichhorn said, but by the end of August there were 101 vacancies in professional campus roles, 95 of which were teaching positions. Most of the job openings in the district’s 46 campuses are in bilingual and special education; the remaining are nurse and librarian positions.
Houston ISD announced last month it would move more than 250 administrative staff with teaching credentials into classrooms to ensure the school year started with a certified teacher in all core subjects in the district. A spokesperson said the district has made some progress hiring since the beginning of the school year but still has 294 teacher vacancies as of Thursday.
Other districts, including Waller and Barbers Hill ISDs, are reporting few unfilled jobs this school year or are seeing vacancies on par with nonpandemic years.
Finding enough substitute teachers also is proving more difficult than usual for some districts, including some that have few unfilled jobs.
Santa Fe ISD, for example, had filled about half of its substitute requests so far this year, prompting the school board to approve a pay increase to “assist with recruitment and to remain competitive with neighboring districts,” Hanssard said.
“Since that time, we have limited campus and districtwide professional development during the school day for the remainder of the month of September, and our fill rate has increased by at least 35 percent,” she added.
On Wednesday, Conroe ISD had 158 unfilled substitute positions, according to the school system’s online COVID dashboard.
Clear Creek ISD has filled an average of 76 percent of requests for substitutes, compared with an average of 95 percent.
“We are experiencing difficulty in retaining substitutes based on their individual health concerns,” spokeswoman Elaina Polsen said.
Further complicating matters for some is a lack of paid time off for employees who miss work due to exposure to the virus.
“This is an emergency,” said Clay Robison, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, a union representing educators. “If districts really want to encourage everyone to do the right thing and quarantine when they need to, we shouldn’t be financially penalizing them for doing so.”
COVID cases have steadily increased in Texas schools, with the number of infected students nearly doubling in a week by Aug. 29.
Losing pay to meet district quarantine requirements already is devastating many support staff, such as cafeteria workers and bus drivers, said Nikki Cowart, president of Cy-Fair AFT, a union representing school workers in CypressFairbanks ISD. The district is requiring employees to use their regular leave for COVID-related absences.
“Workers are frantically reaching out to me because they are already living paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “This is causing chaos and turmoil because they can’t afford this. They may not be able to put food on the table or make rent because they have to be isolated for 10 days.”
The Texas Education Agency declared in a July statement that districts have the “exclusive authority to make leave determinations” in accordance with federal law.
The 2020 Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which required employers to offer paid sick leave as well as expanded family and medical leave, expired on Dec. 31. The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act extended emergency paid sick leave only until Sept. 30.
Houston-area districts have adopted varying policies.
In Barbers Hill ISD, employees have to use regular sick time if they must miss work for COVID-related reasons.
“If they go over their allotted leave days, they will be docked accordingly,” spokeswoman Jami Navarre said.
The Waller ISD board of trustees voted to give employees five COVID leave days that can be used when staff have symptoms of the virus, are exposed to it or must care for an immediate family member.
Crosby ISD is offering up to five days leave for the virus, but only for staff who have positive COVID tests. The district will give special leave for only half of the time an employee is out.
In Galena Park ISD, employees can use up to eight days of paid leave for “specified reasons related to positive COVID-19 results,” said Sherrhonda Hunter, the district’s executive director for school and community relations.
Full-time Santa Fe ISD staff can receive up to 10 days of COVID leave when they show administrators proof of their positive test results.
“If an employee must quarantine or take care of a family member who has tested positive for COVID-19 or must personally quarantine, (they) must use their own personal leave time,” Hanssard said. “We do not offer a virtual option for employees to work from home.”
Staff in Spring ISD must use their normal allotment of leave to take time off because of the virus. However, if the employee has a positive COVID test, the district will credit up to five days of leave. If staff are forced to miss more than five days of work due to any illness, they must provide a doctor’s note to their supervisors.
Houston ISD is giving employees who are fully vaccinated or are medically unable to receive the inoculation up to 10 days of paid leave for COVID-related absences. Those who choose to be unvaccinated must use their personal leave to isolate.
If districts want to retain needed staff during the pandemic, Cowart said local school boards must find a way to pay for staff COVID leave for up to 10 days, as federal relief funds previously did.
Robison said with the Texas Legislature’s third special session starting Sept. 20, he hopes lawmakers will allocate funding for districts to do so.
“If districts really want to encourage everyone to do the right thing and quarantine when they need to, we shouldn’t be financially penalizing them for doing so.” Clay Robison, spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association