Pay The Teachers!

Teachers and professors are an essential part of our educated society because they are our mentors, counselors, and motivators. But as of 2015, Texas still struggles to hire enough school teachers to accommodate the growing K-12 population. Just North of Austin, Kxan reports that the Round Rock Independent School District held “several vacancies” due to teacher shortages. Teachers in Texas are leaving because they are being underpaid and under appreciated for their work. I believe in order to improve Texas education, the Texas Government needs to increase teacher’s wages.

Texas Teachers, compared with the other states, are significantly underpaid. According to the Austin Culture Map, “Texas Teachers receive an annual salary of $48,110, well below the national average of $56,383.” The difference in salary is one the reason why many Texas school teachers are unsatisfied with their overall job. Dissatisfaction within a teacher’s job can lead to poor performance, and therefore affect Texas students’ performance in academic work. By increasing teachers’ annual salaries, the government can improve the satisfactory rates within teachers, and thus improving the academic performance of Texas students.

An Increased salary would provide teachers incentives to work harder and provide quality work. In an article by Nea Today, an international study concluded that higher salaries correlated to higher teacher quality. In the article, school programs in nations such as Switzerland, Netherlands, and South Korea have higher paid educators. It is no wonder The Huffington post considered South Korea as one of the best places for education in the world. With more at stake, teachers will continue to work hard to keep their fairly paid jobs. A higher paying salary would increase competitiveness within the teaching community, and therefore promote higher teacher quality.

People who oppose raising teacher salary argue that teachers do not work as hard as other professions. In terms of hours, people argue that teachers only work seven hours a day, within a nine month period. In reality, teachers constantly work outside of school in order to prepare lesson plans, grade papers, and manage multiple of student’s individual demands. In the summer, teachers take on second jobs at summer schools or continue to take classes to renew knowledge and teaching certifications. Altogether, the total hours a teacher spends to complete all these task accumulate up to 60 hours per week. 

The pay gap between teachers and other professions are growing. A study conducted by the National Education Association indicated that, “annual pay for teachers has fallen sharply over the past 60 years in relation to the annual pay of other workers with college degrees.” Teachers deserve a fair pay based on their work. Consequently, Texans prefer not to pay these teachers because of additional taxes they will have to pay. But if extra taxes benefits our teachers and future generation, then it will be worth the investment. Texas education will not automatically improve by paying teachers more, but it is the right step in forming a better education system.