CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Three years after Texas leaders called teacher vacancies a statewide crisis, the state is still working to solve the problem — but some progress has been made.
Dr. Cynthia Hopkins, a teacher at Kaffie Middle School in Corpus Christi, knows firsthand what it takes to stay in the classroom. After 20 years in education, she said the key comes down to one thing.
"I think teachers need to feel valued and I think when they feel valued and appreciated, they stay where they're at, um, and give back," Hopkins said.
Three years ago, Hopkins was helping Texas figure out how to keep more teachers in the profession. Gov. Greg Abbott established the Teacher Vacancy Task Force in March 2022, and Hopkins was one of 52 members representing educators across the state.
Not every recommendation the group made was adopted.
"We met, we wrote a report, that was one of the bienniums. I thought, oh yes, the legislature's gonna pick all this up, it's gonna be great. They didn't," Hopkins said.
But some ideas did move forward — including on pay. In 2025, lawmakers approved a new teacher retention allotment. For larger school systems, that means additional funding to increase base pay for eligible teachers, including up to $5,000 for teachers with at least five years of experience.
"This past biennium they did put money to teachers' raises, and it was like, wow, like something that we worked on is helping teachers," Hopkins said.
The task force also recommended expanding pathways into the profession. Hopkins said teacher residency programs have grown since then.
"Universities have expanded the residency program. Our own island, the Tamu-CC has a residency program that is fantastic and growing," Hopkins said.
The Corpus Christi Independent School District has also added another path into the classroom. The district's Associate Teacher Program allows people to work in classrooms while working toward certification.
But getting teachers in the door is only part of the challenge. Keeping them there is another.
"Our, our pay isn't where it should be, especially in those rural campuses, and also the cost of health care has skyrocketed," Hopkins said.
Despite the ongoing challenges, Hopkins said her passion for the work has kept her in the classroom.
"You have to have hope because I'm working with kids and I wanna see my kids change the world," Hopkins said.
The question of whether the shortage has actually improved remains difficult to answer. Texas is launching a new statewide system to track teacher vacancies, but the first report from that data collection won't be due until 2027.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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