Amid a statewide teacher shortage, some Texas educators are losing their licenses for quitting .....

[Fla Dem]

Amid a teacher shortage, some Texas educators are losing their licenses for quitting during the school year

The policy sidelines educators, often for two school years, at a time when districts are already struggling to keep teachers in the classrooms.

BY BRIAN LOPEZ AND JASON BEEFERMAN APRIL 19, 20225 AM CENTRAL


Six years ago, Staci Crosswell joined the ranks of the teaching profession to do one thing: make a difference.

But, as reality has set it in, the hope and optimism have slowly drained away.

Crosswell’s story is a common one heard from hundreds of Texas teachers who have become disillusioned with the profession. There’s the low average salary that has remained stagnant for nearly a decade. Then the frequent switches to virtual learning and back to the classroom caused by the coronavirus pandemic. And the newer requirement to complete a 60- to 120-hour course on reading, known as Reading Academies, if teachers for kindergarten through third grade want to keep their jobs in 2023. And there’s the recouping of learning progress lost during the pandemic.

Crosswell considered leaving her teaching job in the middle of the school year. But the fear of losing her teaching certification stopped her. Over the last six months, a record number of teachers have been reported to the state for leaving in the middle of the school year. Doing so means a district can have a teacher’s license revoked.

Crosswell, who is a second grade teacher in the Humble Independent School District, said she wasn’t going to risk getting reported and potentially lose her certification even though she still plans on leaving the profession at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

“It’s my safety,” she said. “If I lost my teaching certificate, I would be out of luck.”

Districts in the past have reported teachers to the state for leaving before their contracts are up, but over the last year there has been a surge in such reports — at the same time as a statewide teacher shortage.


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