Texas Education Agency doesn’t think they earn enough.
Students not interested in college after graduation in Texas have had an option of considering studying cosmetology while in high school, obtaining a state license, and beginning work as soon as possible. That might not last.
Though the website Neuvoo lists the average annual salary in Texas as $36,619, the state sets of a threshold of $35,339 a year for programs to aspire to and says the profession comes up too short too often. The Texas Education Agency announced they are looking at eliminating some vocational training programs at the high school level, all coming under the category Cosmetology.
That would be a big mistake, says Ron Jemison Jr., who sits on the state’s advisory board on barbering, and whose family has owns the more than 100-year old Franklin Beauty School, the longest continually-running licensed beauty school in Texas. He says more than just how to cut hair, though that is the core, students learn skills of entrepreneurship. “What we instill in certain schools throughout Texas is not only how to budget but how to file taxes,” he says. They learn how to be self-employed, how to keep records, how to hire and manage. And says his daughter, who also attended U of Houston, is proof that a good salary can be earned with skills learned in cosmetology classes. “She’s making up to $85,000 now, and she’s only 22. She’s doing very well in this business and has time to travel because she can make her own hours.”
Rather than eliminating opportunities, Jemison says the field of barbering is enjoying a resurgence as men are taking the old notions of going to the barber to a whole new level of care. It’s a growing career path.
TEA says this is just a thought being considered and that no decision has been made yet.