Several Houston area school districts have started the school year with fewer teacher vacancies than last year, while other districts are still working to fill positions.
Some bigger districts are seeing triple-digit vacancies as the year begins. Fort Bend ISD had 194 teacher openings posted in March, and the district now has roughly 200 teacher vacancies, said Amber Williams, executive director of human resources for the district.Â
MORE ON EDUCATION: Houston-area school districts implement heat protocol as region faces extreme temperatures
“About 100 of those (openings) are in those hard-to-fill areas,” Williams said, referencing teacher roles such as special education and bilingual teachers.
Before the 2022-23 school year started, Willis ISD had 40 to 60 teacher vacancies, and that number was down to six as summer ended, said Jamie Fails, communications director for the district.Â
“We’re doing really well, way better than last year,” Fails said.
A review of 21 area school districts’ job listings showed roughly 1,240 teacher openings as of Aug. 11.
This does not include the Houston Independent School District, which has roughly 206 teacher vacancies.Â
The numbers show improvement compared to the 2022-23 school year, where area districts struggled to fill thousands of vacancies two weeks before students returned to class.Â
Raises help with retaining staff
Some officials cited districts’ efforts to give teachers raises as a successful strategy to retain staff.Â
“There were some (teachers) that stated they were leaving the profession, and we all know why,” said Candis Houston, president for Aldine ISD’s chapter for Texas Federation of Teachers, a statewide union. “Teachers do not get paid enough for the demands of the job.”
EX-HISD SECRETARY: Ex-HISD secretary ordered to give back $37,521 in stolen school funds
Several school districts made efforts to include raises in their upcoming budget, forgoing new buses and band instruments, tapping federal emergency dollars and laying off administrators to give competitive wages.
Other Houston area school boards passed deficit budgets in hopes Texas lawmakers will provide more funding during a special session.Â
Branching out to recruit teachers
To hire more teachers, officials from various districts said they had to be creative with recruiting, be more active on social media and branch out beyond the Houston metro — even nationally and internationally at times.Â
Splendora ISD, in a rural part of the region, started its school year with three teacher vacancies at Splendora High, said Shane Conklin, chief administrator for the district.Â
“We’ve probably hired more teachers than we’ve had in any other year,” Conklin said, noting that while teachers are leaving, more teachers are entering the profession as the district continues to grow. “I’ve been telling everybody in the district to be ready because this group of teachers we hire every year, that’s going to continue to grow and grow as the district (does).”
Other districts, like Fort Bend ISD, are trying to actively recruit more teachers from places like Splendora, Williams said. She said larger districts closer to Houston have greater needs and must compete against each other.
Aldine ISD also recruits in rural areas, and brings in certified teachers from other countries, Houston said. While recruiting internationally isn’t new, the 2022-23 school year is the first year there’s been a concerted effort in the district, according to a news release from 2022.Â
“(The district) was able to retain all of the international teachers that they recruited last year,” Houston said. “All of these teachers are bilingual or trilingual. And that’s important for Aldine (ISD) because our student population is 78 percent Hispanic.”Â
Although Humble ISD started the school year with 75 teacher openings, the district is nearly fully staffed with teachers, said Jamie Mount, chief communications officer for the district.
About 15 teacher openings are in double-staffed elementary classrooms where there’s at least one certified teacher present, she said. The district also recruits in other states where teacher pay is low and there are quality teacher education programs, Mount said.Â
Waiving certification requirements
Some districts such as HISD are seeking to waive Texas certification requirements for the upcoming school year to fill classroom positions.
Under state law anyone who wishes to become a teacher must obtain a bachelor’s degree, complete an educator preparation program, pass the appropriate certification exams and apply to be certified by the state, according to the TEA.
Teachers can go through a university-based program or an alternative certification program, a nontraditional route that may allow uncertified participants to work as teachers while completing program requirements.Â
Filling vacancies
Several districts are still struggling to fill vacancies for support services such as bus drivers and custodians, officials said.
While Alvin ISD had eight teacher openings posted on its website, the district needs to recruit more support staff, said Rory Gesch, deputy superintendent of operations for the district.
“In the support services, we’re still behind and hurting,” Gesch said. “We’ve got some vacancies…over the last few years we’ve just been short and trying to cope with that.”Â
Some districts such as Willis ISD, have attempted to give raises towards these positions. During an Aug. 9 board meeting, Willis board members moved forward with giving custodians and child nutrition staff a pay increase of $1 an hour over the current rate for custodians, while child nutrition staff will receive an increase of $1.32 over the current rate. The pay scale ranges between $12 an hour to $20 an hour for some staff in certain pay grades, officials said.
Fort Bend ISD has a total of 162 bus driver vacancies, Williams said.Â
“It’s a really tough thing along with teachers,” she said. “Obviously (teachers) don’t have the same requirements to be a bus driver. But it’s not a job everybody wants…you have to make sure that you can pay bus drivers fairly for the job that they have.”
