The Charles Butt Foundation released its annual teacher poll this week during The Texas Tribune’s annual TribFest, showing that a record high number of Texas educators, 78%, are seriously considering leaving the classroom. 

The Foundation’s poll was conducted amongst 1,104 Texas teachers in the spring of 2024. The poll found that there were three critical areas that most affected educators: relationships, resources, and respect. 

Over half of Texas educators said they feel like they are only occasionally or rarely encouraged to advocate for their needs. Forty-five percent felt that their administrators often did not back them up in interactions with parents, and only 43% felt they were provided opportunities to grow and further develop their skills as an educator. Teachers also did not feel they had opportunities to seek additional pay, with fewer than 30% of educators saying they had been provided opportunities to take on paid leadership roles or earn promotions. A majority of teachers (66%) said they felt encouraged to take on unpaid leadership roles; those teachers who felt regularly encouraged to take unpaid opportunities were also more likely to want to leave education than their peers.

Texas has seen a rise in uncertified educators, particularly since the pandemic/Great Resignation, and following the passage HB 1842, which created Districts of Innovation in 2015. DOI allows districts to exempt themselves from laws in an effort to provide flexibility. Districts often ask for waivers in the area of teacher certification, leading to a rise in the number of teachers in Texas classrooms without a certification, and who are not seeking certification. Fewer than half of teachers responded that a paid or unpaid student teaching, residency, or internship pathway was important to them in choosing a certification program. This is an interesting finding, given that TEA has especially been pushing residency pathways, creating an enhanced educator certificate for residents and attempting to get legislation passed that will favor the residency path. The most cited factors in choosing a certification path included time to complete the program, location, and accessibility. 

The poll found that over two-thirds of Texas educators had served as mentors, mostly in unpaid positions. Only 37% reported receiving pay for their time as a mentor. Less than half reported receiving supports such as planning time with their mentee or dedicated time to observe or be observed by their mentee, and only around one-third reported receiving training in mentorship and coaching. Of those who did, 85% found the training to be at least somewhat helpful.

Time off was cited as another pain spot, with educators reporting that they struggle to get time off when they are sick or need to take a personal day. Only 59% of educators said they are always able to take time off when they are sick, meaning that 41% of educators are working while sick. Ability to take time off dropped significantly when it came to taking personal time, with 46% of educators saying they had difficulty getting time off for mental health reasons, and 51% saying they could not take non-health related personal time during the school year.  Lack of available substitutes and ability to find coverage for classes is often a major factor for teachers when deciding whether or not to ask for time off, and often they feel guilted or shamed into coming to school when they are sick or need breaks.  Having a sub also often means more work upon a teacher’s return. These factors that discourage educators from taking needed breaks inevitably lead to burnout.  

With regard to class size, one in five teachers reported teaching at least one class with more than 30 students.  High school teachers reported the highest class sizes, with the average class being 28 students. The study also showed a correlation between the size of the school and class size, with larger schools having higher class sizes. Urban teachers were also more likely to have higher class sizes. Eighty-three percent of teachers with more than 25 students in their class reported that they had too many students to teach effectively. Given funding challenges currently faced by Texas school districts, this is not likely to improve anytime soon.  

Additionally, and importantly, only 5% of Texas educators feel valued by their elected officials. This is hardly surprising given the treatment of public education in the 88th legislative session, with discourse on vouchers, and corresponding propaganda around grooming and indoctrination, overtaking other important issues including school funding, teacher pay, and student discipline. Teacher autonomy is under attack with the passage of HB 1605 and the rise of “High Quality Instructional Materials,” which will be more likely to be adopted because they have funding attached to them while districts are running deficit budgets and making difficult financial decisions. Reasons for teacher attrition were studied in 2022 by Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) Teacher Vacancy Task Force, but none of the solutions proposed by the task force were prioritized by the governor or signed into law last session. This is likely to be the case in 2025 as well, with vouchers again poised to be a major issue this session, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) even stating he will not allow any bills to go through his chamber until a voucher is passed. 

Peer relationships were a bright spot in the report, with eight in 10 educators stating they feel valued by their fellow educators in their school, and relationships with colleagues were cited as one of the key factors encouraging educators to remain in the profession. The report also showed the importance of being recognized for work and appreciated by administrators.  Teachers who felt valued by their administrators were overall more likely to have positive attitudes about other issues plaguing the profession and less likely to consider leaving education.   

Although the results of the survey are mostly unsurprising given everything we know about the state of public education in Texas, they are a reminder about the importance of relationships and the positive aspect community can have on impacting the classroom environment and workplace. Teachers who feel appreciated, connected, and valued experience less negative feelings overall about the profession and are less likely to want to leave. Connections among educators were cited as a critical component that has kept some from leaving the profession. This is a good reminder about one of the important benefits to belonging to an educator association like ATPE, and participating in your local or region’s events as well as events on the state level. ATPE can help provide the connection, camaraderie, and networking that are needed as the school year progresses and things get harder.