Why are Texas teachers quitting the profession in record numbers? Here’s what they told us.

You couldn't pay me $120k to deal with these kids, parents, and admins!!!!

Stop the micromanaging of professional educators. They know what’s needed but can’t do it because they have to follow the district and state curriculum plan, only to get blamed for its failure. Put educational experts with more than five years of classroom experience that really want to help schools in leadership, not just people who want to advance their career or play politics.

The pay is not the problem for me, it is the fact kids can treat you anyway they want without consequences, the paperwork for tracking sped and ESL, creating lessons, tests, quizzes, grading. I was so tired of working 7 days a week. The biggest waist of time was filling out paperwork for observations, goals for the year (shouldn’t that be obvious), how we met them, showing documentation. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork……just let me teach. I resigned in May!

Got hired as a band director at a charter school in the hood. I walked out on day 4 after the "students" were threatening me, cussing me out, and throwing my music all over the room. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped.

Because students are out of control, parents treat teachers like crap, and pay with a degree & multiple certificates are not enough to live on, often.

Some people have made a passion driven profession so unbearable that the people that were willing to work for the low pay and low quality benefits are no longer willing to do so. And it’s going to get exponentially worse every year.

Yes. I retired from teaching in Texas. The disrespect from parents toward teachers is unbelievable, especially towards science teachers. I took less pension so I could leave. I loved teaching critical thinking and science. 😢

I recently resigned as a High School Teacher. Toughest job I've ever had. Students were amazing, and by far the best part. The stress and anxiety are real and it was refreshing to me to hear others are in the same situation.

I am a teacher, and this has been my message to my own children: Don’t even think about going into teaching, unless you feel a strong calling to do so. Teacher grievances fall into three main categories: 1. Pay 2. The lack of respect towards the profession 3. The fact that society has tasked teachers with fixing all of its issues

I wanted to be a teacher because my mother was one. Spoke to a teacher while working corrections and she said with a look I will never forget. Don't do it it's not worth it. She said this in 2002. Glad I listened

Let's address some of the root causes for Teacher attrition. #1. Work requirements that amount to 40 + hours of overtime per week, without ANY additional pay. Detailed lesson plans that do nothing for instruction, but sure help an administrator evaluate you to death. These take hours and hours to complete, are redundant to ridiculous degree and lock you into a set of actions that may or may not work without the ability to adjust or change strategies. Data tracking forms for every student and every grade, without consideration of the time requirement to gather and input, or actual usefulness of the data. A ridiculous amount of training for testing, and just being a teacher each and every year. Most of which cannot be completed during the school day while the teacher is up and teaching. Sitting down to do work will get you a very poor evaluation, and these evaluations are numerous and unhelpful to say the least. Not to mention a very useful tool for an administrator who wants to get rid of anyone who pushes back on their insane ideas. #2. Pay and retirement. C'mon Texas. this is ridiculous. I have a doctorate in education with twenty years of service but I can literally go to work at Buckee's and with the amount of overtime I put in now and earn 20 to 30 thousand more than I do as a teacher! You have made it so not worth it to be an educator. Our retirement is absolutely pathetic. We get a small percentage of our income unless we work until we're ready to die, and even then, what we get is so pathetic and cannot keep up with the basic cost of living, let alone a comfortable retirement for a public servant. Frankly, its barely enough to cover the insurance we need due to the health issues that were created by the stress and misery of our jobs. Not only that, but we cannot draw social security even though we paid into it for years before becoming a teacher. #3. The truth has been hidden for 30 years. When NCLB created high stakes testing the lies began. Schools had to make the numbers work to get their funding. So, they taught to the test, inflated grades, created fallbacks for failing students to receive credit, passed them along regardless of their ability to learn, AND told them all that college was the only option for a better career. All strategies to increase the numbers, not the reality of what they were learning. Now we have a culture of do nothing and you will get by. We see it even more since covid peeled back the curtain. Half the job is suffering under the lie from both student behaviors and apathy, all of which the teacher is held responsible for, and making the numbers work in your classes so you are not pulled into the office to discuss your failings when it comes to teaching. The students are accountable for absolutely nothing. Not their work ethic, not their grades, not their attitudes, not their behavior. The lie is so deep and pervasive its disgusting. Nobody can pay you enough to live like this. I'm twenty years in and stuck in this bs retirement trap. Still, I think I'm done. There has to be something better than this, even if that something is Buckee's

I'm a college professor. I have it better than most and it is great job. But my main challenges are behavioral problems--something you should not expect at the college level. And the issues are usually with students not being able to get along with other students, or outright abusing them. Bullying is rampant. And the administration, while rattling the saber about a "zero tolerance policy," does nothing, and sometimes won't acknowledge there is a problem. This is especially true of "special needs" students, who are higher up on the spectrum, who are given greater leeway with their unacceptable behavior. But my number one concern about teaching is getting shot. I can't believe I just wrote that, but it is the truth. I will be retiring early just for this reason--the fear. And again, this is college...I can't imagine how bad it is for k-12.

Did I miss something or was there not any discussion of how much more horrible children's behavior has gotten??? I've worked in childcare for several years within the 3-5 age range and the terrible behavior is already starting at that age!

I quit last year and was having anxiety attacks and my depression worsened, dealing with behavior issues, students go and lie on the teachers, admin worried about looking good by the numbers of test scores, lying about suspension and a-lot of other things. I was a music teacher and love what I do but I couldn’t take it no more. Now I just substitute for elementary only. Middle school was not it.

My wife is a science teacher in a large, semi-rural school district. Her last sub note included; which kids didn't speak English and what computer program to use to communicate with them, which kids were not allowed to speak to each other due to litigation, which kids were going to try to get the two kids to talk to each other, which kids had significant health issues and what to do if they had a crisis. Our legislators are asking much too much of our schools.

I am a retired teacher from Canada, and I can tell you honestly that we are facing the very same issues up here. I personally believe the majority of problems stem from societal changes and the complete reversal of attitudes we have today. It has resulted in lack of respect for all levels of authority, lack of responsibility on the part of students AND parents, a deduction in the educational standards, and so much more. Five years ago the Department of Education in my province implemented a policy that eliminated deadlines for students, essentially telling them they could pass in their assignments whenever they felt like it! I'd like to see the employer who's going to agree to that!!! Now the department is eliminating ALL tests because "tests are not an accurate reflection of what the student actually knows, and many students do not perform well on tests due to anxiety." What the hell are we doing to society!?

When they start holding parents accountable, maybe things will change.

This was my 25th year teaching. I left less than two weeks ago. I was taking 2 different medications to manage my anxiety plus a sleeping pill. Spent countless hours at my job. Since I’ve been home I have already weaned myself off of one medication and I’m working on getting off the sleeping pill. Trying to figure out what my next plan is. Never thought I would have gotten to this point where I just up and quit. Between all the demands of the job, the excessive trainings and meetings, plus the bad behavior/ complete lack of respect from way too many students (and parents defending their kid) I was miserable and kept trying to make it work. Class sizes of between 26-31 students was also too much. When I started teaching in the inner city many years ago and had 32 students in my class their behavior was nothing compared to the bad behavior of students in the suburbs is today.

I work in a chain craft store that gives 15% off to teachers but it still grinds my teeth that teachers, those responsible for the next generations, are paid so little and then have to pay out of pocket for simple classroom decorations and art items. Thank you to all of you who labor on in this career despite the lack of sufficient pay and recognition.

Teaching in public school was torturous. We left the whole broken system and homeschooled our kids in a fantastic parent led community of home educators in our area. I loved teaching in that community so much that I still teach there even though my own kids have graduated from college and are now married and starting careers. I hope everyone gets out. The public school system was broken 20 years ago, and it's only worsened.