Teacher union leaders strategize as more educators leave Houston classrooms
HOUSTON - Education leaders met Tuesday to discuss ways to keep qualified teachers in local classrooms amid the nationwide shortage.
The Texas Federation of Teachers and local union members had a roundtable discussion at the Hilton University of Houston Hotel to talk about how the problem could be addressed immediately and for years to come.
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"We have to work together," says Texas AFT President Zeph Capo. "Districts, employees, legislators, parents and community."
Houston ISD Chief Talent Officer Jeremy Grant Skinner also attended Tuesday's meeting. He said the district has been working to improve how teachers are paid with an 11% wage increase this year.
"HISD mostly reallocated about seven percent of its entire budget this year to add $150 million to our employee pay," says Skinner. "And we did that at a time where we did not receive any additional state funding."
Skinner also said he hopes there are opportunities to create 'Grow Your Own' teacher programs in the district - a concept that's used in other parts of the country to recruit and develop local people in your community into teachers.
FOX 26 spoke with former teachers and administrators who recently left the profession.
Aurelia Wagner received the top award for third-grade teachers in Houston ISD in 2018, but she eventually left the classroom due to a heavy workload and lack of support from parents.
"It was so stressful," says Wagner. "I got the results that I needed. But at the same time, I was losing pieces of myself every single day. Most of the teachers that I know left because they felt like they were undervalued, overworked, and underpaid."
Wagner also says there should be more teacher assistants in classrooms to help.
Former HISD campus administrator Maxie Hollingsworth left in 2021 after 11 years in education. She says in addition to higher pay, teachers need better support from their leaders.
"You have got to have the will to push back against a lot of the negative, false criticisms...this anti-public education effort that's become a fundamental part of our political system," says Hollingsworth.
"If you don't value teachers better, who are you going to get coming into education? Who's going to replace those teachers who are leaving? We've already seen lowering of quality, alternative education programs...that clearly shows the devaluing of skill set, knowledge, and capacity that's required to teach."
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Zeph Capo, the President of Texas Federation of Teachers, says it's important that the entire community rallies behind finding more permanent fixes to teacher pay - including retired educators.
"Retirees have not seen a cost of living adjustment in decades," says Capo. "How do we put in systemic changes that are going to make sure that the rug doesn't get pulled from under new staff that we've brought in, and that we're trying to detain because those funds will go away? The legislature has an opportunity."
State Representative Alma Allen, also a former educator, vowed to advocate for teacher pay and resources in the upcoming legislative session.