It's the start of the school year here in Texas. Classrooms are open, and there are plenty of masks, and mask mandates. Unfortunately, there aren't enough teachers.
"There certainly is a shortage of teachers willing to actively work in the classroom right now" said Zeph Capo, president of the American Federation of Teachers here in Texas. Translation? There are plenty of teachers, just not enough that want to show up for work.
"We don't have a teacher shortage if you look at the number of actual certified teachers, we just have a shortage of people willing to actually do the work anymore" Capo told KTRH, "Our ability to recruit new teachers to come in to the profession has just not been keeping up."
Why is that? Why are teachers now opting not to teach? It's a number of things. Covid has taken it's toll, from fears of classroom safety, to school boards blatantly defying Governor Abbott's orders on mask mandates. Angry parents have also been a factor due to outrage over CRT, and probably the number one issue right now Capo says, "We've got to pay teachers more, we have to bring respect back to the position in the classroom, and we've got to work together to figure out we can overcome some of the issues that are driving people from the classroom, and that starts with a good, decent base salary."
As for how the schools are dealing with this teacher shortage? KTRH reached out to almost all of the school districts here in the Houston area, and they refused to participate in our story.
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