With less than three weeks until students at Houston ISD return to the classroom, the district is still reporting more than 800 teacher vacancies.
return to the classroom, the district is still reporting more than 800 teacher vacancies. It’s part of a national shortage that schools are facing.
Cruz was a teacher for 10 years. She now has three kids in the district and worries about the long-term impact. Since last year, HISD says the district implemented an 11% average raise for returning teachers, hosted multiple job fairs this summer, and are offering retention bonuses as well. Positions that don’t get filled by the start of school will utilize a long-term substitute, a solution that Jackie Anderson, President of the Houston Federation of Teachers, says is a band-aid repair.