Amid Statewide Teacher Shortage, Local Districts Fared Better Than Rest of State

Public schools across the State of Texas scrambled to hire enough teachers and coaches before classes started this month.

Part of that is due to a high number of teacher retirements last year. But its not just retired teachers who are leaving the classroom. A Charles Butt Foundation Poll found that 68 percent of Texas teachers seriously considered leaving the profession last year. Nearly 12 percent of them did leave, according to teacher attrition statistics from the Texas Education Agency. The problem didn’t seem to affect Fayette County schools as bad this year. Flatonia Superintendent Chris Sodek said his district managed to fill most teacher positions ahead of the school year.

“We have an open position for an assistant band director that probably won’t be filled this year,” Sodek said. “Other than that, we’re in pretty good shape. But we did have to make some hires later than we would have liked.” Sodek said Flatoina I.S.D. relied on several retired teachers who offered to return to the classroom this year.

“Without some of those people, it would have been tough to fill the spots,” he said.

Sodek said schools across the State are also facing a big shortage in coaches. Sodek said he heard of a coaching conference this summer where the organizers posted a board with a list of hundreds of open coaching positions across the state. Next to it was another board with a list of coaches who were looking for jobs – there were only three. “I’m sure those guys were able to find a job,” said Sodek, who started his career as a coach.

“Coaches have to put in a lot of extra hours and responsibility,” Sodek said. “The same is true for all your teachers who are really good. But as a coach, you’re getting in late at night, and some coaches are having to help with elementary and junior high. Calculate your coaching stipend and the amount of hours you’re working, and you’re really not making that much per hour. I’m not trying to paint a negative picture. I wouldn’t trade my career. But when you can work from home and make $70,000 a year, that’s tough.”

Schulenburg Superintendent Duane Limbaugh said his district had more trouble finding custodial and maintenance staff than teachers.

Limbaugh said the school was hoping to find a boy’s coach who could also teach English. The school wasn’t able to find anyone with both credentials. The school will hire a certified teacher to fill the position, he said. The Shorthorn athletic department will have to get by with one less boy’s coach. Overall, Limbaugh said the school was able to fill all other teacher positions.

“Early on, we had a few bail on us before their deadline because they found better offers somewhere else,” he said. “We were scrambling a little bit, but we were able to get those position filled at our July meeting.”

“It wasn’t as bad for us as some schools had it,” he added.

Dr. Jeff Harvey, superintendent for Fayetteville I.S.D., said his district was able to fill all open teacher positions before the start of school.

“We got everyone hired a month ago, and we feel good about that,” Harvey said. “We had three teaching positions open, and we were able to get them filed fairly quickly.”

“There is a major teacher shortage across the state,” Harvey said. “Not only teachers, but coaches as well. Some folks out there talking about putting more kids in the classroom because of shortage of staff.”

Harvey said that’s a doubleedged sword, because one of the factors driving teacher burnout is more kids in the classroom.

“All of the things the state is mandating now we used to not have to do,” Harvey said. “It’s turning people off from the profession. It’s really sad because the profession is all about our kids and our future.”

Round Top-Carmine Superintendent Brandon Schovajsa said his school was able to fill all teaching positions by the start of school with the exception of one: a history teacher/track coach. He said the school would spread the responsibilities for that position among other staff and compensate them accordingly.

“The struggle we face is competition with pay,” Schovajsa said. “A kid coming right out of college can make $50,000 a year right up the road. A little farther away they can make $60,000.” He said the high cost of buying or renting homes in the Round Top area creates additional challenges in recruiting teachers.

Schovajsa said the State’s mandates for remediating education loss during COVID has exacerbated the teacher burnout problem.

“Reading scores need to be improved, rightfully so,” he said. But some of the stuff they came up with – they’re adding 30 hours of remediation – where do we find that time? Its easy to put that on paper.”

La Grange I.S.D. currently has one open teacher position according to the employment page on the school’s website. The Record attempted to reach La Grange SuperintendentAndy McHazlett several times for this story but he had not responded in time for this publication.