It is a crucial time in public education in our state and within PfISD. In order to best support and retain our educators, first, we must listen to them! Hear them, uplift and empower their voices, and seek the collaboration needed to address their concerns and requested resources to allow them to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. A recent survey given by the district to some of our PfISD educators and staff showed that only 57% of our teachers felt that their work-life balance was reasonable. Only 43%  felt they were fairly compensated for taking on additional responsibilities at their school and only 46% of non-instructional staff reported being satisfied with their salary. I spoke to a central Texas teacher at the state capitol recently who left teaching last year. She shared with me that teachers are expected to take on other jobs like tutoring, teaching summer school, and writing curriculum for other schools if they want to earn a more substantial income. 

This is where we can support our teachers and staff. We have to put in the work to find fiscally responsible ways to properly compensate our teachers and staff and create the discourse needed to provide more work-life balance. I am confident that not having to work an extra job or two to survive is the most immediate and effective starting point. We also need to honor class sizes, provide mental health services, and improve working conditions that stifle their ability to do the job. When a teacher takes the time out of their very long day to attend a school board meeting to say they will leave the job if they do not have the proper planning period to teach, we have to listen. We have to do better. I also support incentives for aspiring teachers and legislation that incentivizes long term teachers. We can strengthen our partnerships with local community colleges so students can access more college general education courses that can reduce the overall investment required to become a teacher. We need to develop our educators so they’re great enough to leave, but treat them so well they want to stay in PfISD.