According to The Texas Tribune, some reasons for the Texas teacher shortage include health and safety concerns during the pandemic, being overworked and underpaid.
The Tribune reports retired teachers haven't received a cost-of-living raise since 2004, and with inflation increasing, it is getting worse.
For the 2021-22 school year, Texas employed over 370,000 teachers — the most it's ever had.
CCISD Chief Human Resources officer Debbie Cruz said the district has about an 86 percent teacher retention rate.
One of the things the district has done for its employees is offer financial incentives to those seeking teacher certification.
She said, for the upcoming school year, the district has hired 150 teachers — some from outside the country. She said 100 vacancies remain.
“Areas that are really the most critical, where we have those shortages — which is in bilingual education and special education classrooms — we are seeing that, really, nationwide," she said. "But those positions, we are actively recruiting for and all are really really critical for the first day of school."
Gov. Greg Abbott announced the formation of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force to increase teacher numbers. It's scheduled to meet in August.
CCISD said it's actively recruiting teachers and staff, and still need to hire one mental-health specialist.
To apply to work for CCISD click here.
The first day of school is Aug. 9.
