Roughly three-quarters of Texas teachers say they’ve seriously considered leaving the profession because of a lack of respect and support, a new poll by the Charles Butt Foundation found.
Many of them had taken at least some concrete steps toward finding other jobs.
As schools across the state grapple with staffing shortages, these figures are another worrying sign that educators are burnt out. That can lead to students in larger class sizes or a reliance on substitutes.
“Teachers are struggling a lot right now,” research associate Victoria Wang said.
The statewide survey included 1,291 public school teachers between April 4 and May 16. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Among those who seriously considered leaving, 68% updated their resume while roughly one-third applied or interviewed for another job. More than a quarter enrolled in classes to prepare for a different position.
“This isn’t just teachers not feeling satisfied,” Wang said. “They’re actively taking steps to leave the classroom.”
Among the sample of teachers, about four in 10 expect to stay in their current position for less than three years. Excluding those nearing retirement age, 61% expect to be gone in fewer than five years.
Among the other top reasons why they consider leaving is because of excessive workload and low pay.
The Charles Butt Foundation began polling Texas teachers before COVID-19 hit in 2020. During that first survey, it found 58% of teachers had seriously considered quitting.
“Just two years later, amidst a global pandemic, political tensions, and immeasurable challenges, that number has skyrocketed to 77 percent,” the report states.
The state had 376,086 classroom teachers in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency. Nearly 12% of them left the profession that same year, up from about 10% in recent years.
More than 8,600 Texas teachers retired in 2021 — about 1,000 more than the year before. Retirement data is not yet available for 2022, though it appears to be tracking closer to average, according to a recent agency presentation to the state’s Teacher Vacancy Task Force.
The foundation’s new poll tracks closely with other surveys that indicate teacher’s dissatisfaction and frustration with educator pay, morale, school safety and other issues.
Teachers also feel less valued now than they did two years ago, the poll found. One stark example: In 2020, one in five teachers felt valued by state elected officials. That’s now down to 5%.
Conservative politicians have been increasingly trumpeting culture war issues that many educators feel pit them against families.
The foundation asked what teachers need to stay in the profession.
A significant pay increase would help but maximizing retirement benefits and providing more days off for teacher well-being also ranked highly, respondents noted. Teachers want more time for planning in their schedules and more affordable housing options in neighborhoods near their schools.
Districts often use extra funding to pay for one-time retention bonuses, noted Lauren Cook, a strategist with the Charles Butt Foundation.
“It usually is like just trying to desperately hold on to whatever teachers we can,” Cook said. “We can see that teachers are not asking for that. They’re asking for a significant salary increase, which would be an investment in them and their career.”
Butt is the chairman of H-E-B and the grocery family has a long tradition of supporting public education.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, Todd A. Williams Family Foundation and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
