Texas schools have faced a teacher shortage within recent years stemming from workloads and low pay, leaving students with lower quality education.

“Most teachers feel disrespected by students and their parents,” math teacher Richard Brown said. “Most of the time, I do not feel this way. I do when I come across students and their parents that feel like they are entitled to people bending over backwards for them or giving them everything they want.”

Within the past school year, 11 teaching positions have been replaced.

“Most were coach teachers that wanted to move to another place to help their careers,” Principal Joey McQueen said. “Some wanted to move closer to family members.”

Many public schools avoid hiring more teachers because they would have to pay them. This leads to a lack in the amount of teachers needed per subject, resulting in larger classes or teachers having to cover multiple subjects which often overwhelms them. 

“I have felt overworked in previous years when I had three or four different classes to teach, and the lesson plans, the assignments, notes and various data analysis we have to do per class,” Brown said.

The Robb Elementary school shooting led to concerns about safety issues causing some teachers to resign from their position.

“I am afraid for the future,” Brown said. “I have 17-18 more years before I can retire. I cannot tell you if I can stick it out that long because of the safety situation.”

Brown said he fears for his own childrens’ safety while they are at school.

According to the Texas Education Agency, 12% of 376,086 teachers hired during the 2021-22 school year quit their job. 

“It takes special people to be a teacher, where they have to adjust each day and love their students,” McQueen said.

English II teacher Alison Brayton said that many believe being a teacher is easy because they receive a summer break. 

“Teachers typically have to complete various school related activities or professional development courses, so their summer is not a complete break from school,” Brayton said. “Most teachers are compensated for additional extracurricular activities they coach or sponsor during the summertime, or even after school hours during the school year, but the dollar amount does not match the number of hours worked.”

Brayton said  she supports the idea of a four day school week or less school hours in a day.

“This would allow students to give more attention and time to their extracurricular activities or jobs, and teachers could spend more time on their lessons without it crossing over into their personal time,” Brayton said.

There is also a shortage of subs due to the amount of training required, disrespect from students and lower pay.

“When you have a sub, you don’t get the same quality of teaching as the regular teacher and when two to three classes are combined, that doesn’t help the quality of education a student receives with a sub,” McQueen said