Teachers

State lawmakers vowed to do right by teachers this session, as tens of thousands of educators have left the field in recent years. But the bills that still have a chance of passing include only modest raises that may not keep teachers in the classroom.

While there have been incremental salary increases in Texas and the U.S., the president of the National Education Association said, they're not keeping pace with inflation and not enough to address the nationwide teacher shortage.

The district sent the survey out to its more than 10,000 employees earlier this year. Many said high housing costs were pushing them to move farther away from Austin.

This year, as Nicole Ogburn prepares her classroom, her first priority is not the decorations she usually spends the summer picking out. Instead, it's buying things to make the classroom safer.

To help fill vacancies during a teacher shortage, a handful of teachers from Spain began working in Elgin ISD this month through a partnership with the Spanish Ministry of Education.

Tens of thousands of teachers in Texas have left the profession in the last year. The UT College of Education is trying to prepare and retain teachers as they face a range of challenges, from low pay to a lack of support in the classroom.

Eligible educators include K-12 teachers, principals, teachers' aides or counselors who spend more than 900 hours at the school during the academic year.

In the months ahead, trustees will decide whether to send a bond package to voters in November. One effort the bond could help fund is creating affordable housing on district-owned property to try to retain teachers getting priced out of the city.

Trustees approved a resolution calling on lawmakers to pass gun control legislation to prevent mass shootings. They’re demanding elected officials at all levels work together on solutions to keep campuses and communities safe.

Ninety percent of survey respondents said they were worried about a shooting happening at their school. Forty-two percent said that the most recent event in Uvalde made them question if they would return to school in the fall.