Let’s make teaching a viable career

Kim was one of the first students I ever taught. A senior, she was highly intelligent and funny. When I asked her about what she wanted to do after high school, she shrugged... “Well Mr. J,” she said, “actually… I want to be a teacher like you and Mrs. S. But… my parents… well, they would rather I studied to be a doctor or lawyer, heck, even a nun.”

“Even a nun, huh?” I said and smiled. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with any of that, but no teacher?”

“No, I mean, my parents say at least nuns have health care and a good place to live,” she said. “And doctors and lawyers, well, they’re paid to deal with all of the problems they have to deal with. And besides, everyone respects them — no one respects teachers, because...”

She looked up at me with a wry smile, “Those who can’t…”

I laughed. Yes… Those that can’t, indeed .

Consider Kim’s dilemma: Enter a field for which she is passionate, but socially and financially discouraged, or a field in which she has no interest — but is culturally and economically prized. Her choice, in short, is to be who she wants to be, or be who society tells her to be.

And yet, today, despite a national shortage of qualified teachers, with parents, policymakers, and community members deeply concerned about our children’s educational success, we still collectively view teachers as being worth less than doctors, lawyers or even nuns.

Teachers in Texas earn approximately 22 percent less than others with similar educational backgrounds: a loss of $14,500 per year. Even in San Antonio’s largest school district, Northside ISD, a teacher must work 16 years to see a 10 percent increase in their base pay. Socially and financially, it isn’t worth the risk.

So, let us remove this risk and pay teachers what they are worth.

One of the best ways to do this is to support measures like House Bill 1548 and its proposed $15,000 base salary raise for Texas teachers. Doing so would erase the professional pay gap for teachers in Texas and put our state at the top of the U.S. in teacher pay, bringing much needed esteem to the profession.

Another strong option is support for House Bill 693, which calls for a 25 percent increase in teacher salaries at local district pay scale, which would allow most Texas districts to minimize that 22 percent professional pay gap, while staying within the needs of their local economies. This economic freedom would allow districts to offer competitive wages, increasing their ability to recruit — and more importantly, retain — the teachers we need.

These crucial actions would have made a difference for Kim, who, despite her parents’ warnings, became a teacher. She proved as excellent an educator as I knew she would be. However, like many teachers today, her low wages meant that she struggled to help support her own growing family. Eventually, Kim was forced to leave the classroom.

But there is hope. By committing to better pay for educators, we open pathways for people like Kim who can guide our children into the futures we want them to have.