Survey: Most Texas teachers burned out, considering quitting
A wide majority of Texas public school teachers are burned out and considering quitting, according to the annual survey from the Texas branch of the American Federation for Teachers.
Low pay was the biggest cause of dissatisfaction, the survey found. Average teacher salaries in Texas lag the national average by about $7,000. The Republican-led Legislature declined to raise teacher wages last year after GOP leaders tethered the funding to a divisive push to allow private school vouchers.
Texas AFT President Zeph Capo described the survey results as a “declaration of disaster.” He noted that the Legislature met five times last year and passed the biggest budget in state history, with a more than $30 billion surplus.
“Not one damn dime of that money went into the pockets of our educators or to solutions that would keep them where they belong, in our classrooms, in our cafeterias, in our libraries,” Capo said in a Zoom call discussing the survey. “This is a crisis.”
The survey found 75% of teachers said they experienced “burnout” in the past year, and nearly 70 percent said they considered leaving their job.
Capo said Texas Education Agency data shows that attrition rates for teachers are at a record high. Many schools are laying off staff due to budget shortages, he said, while others are struggling to find teachers to fill the jobs that are open.
“Our schools have had a tremendously difficult time finding warm bodies, much less bodies with the actual certification and experience, that want to do the work that we need them to do with kids under the conditions this state has created,” Capo said.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas and many other states have struggled to recruit and retain enough teachers as similar surveys have found morale plummeting. In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott tasked a group of educators and policy experts to study the crisis and provide recommendations.
Last year, the group recommended “significant increases” to teacher salary, as well as better benefits and more training. The Legislature ultimately did not pass a teacher pay raise bill.
Teachers also named workload, excessive testing and gun violence as key issues, according to the survey.
Last year, the Legislature passed a bill providing extra funds to school districts that adopt ready-made lessons, a change designed to address the overwork problem. State lawmakers also budgeted $1.1 billion in extra school safety funds and enacted a new requirement that every school have an armed guard — although some districts have said they’re struggling to hire the mandated officers.
On the campaign trail, Abbott has called for the elimination of the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, known as STAAR testing. Federal law does require some form of standardized testing to measure student success, so it would need to be replaced by a similar system.
As the 2024 election cycle heats up, 92% of the teachers surveyed said they intend to vote in the March 5 primaries and November general election, with 96% saying their vote will be determined by public education issues.
Asked about concerns “that expanding charter schools or instituting private school vouchers will have a negative effect on your public school,” more than three-quarters said yes. That is an increase of 13% from 2022 and 20 points from 2021 on the same question.
The figure included 87% of Democrats, 59% of Republicans and 82% of independents.
Vouchers are playing a big role in GOP primaries as Abbott is pushing a program to allow parents to use public funds for private education options. He has spent more than $6 million this year boosting incumbents who voted for his voucher plan last year and trying to oust those who did not.
His office did not respond to a request for comment.
The survey queried about 3,300 of Texas AFT’s 66,000 members. About three-quarters of those surveyed were women. Nearly 9 in 10 of the respondents work in K-12 schools, while the remainder work in higher education or are retired teachers.