How Texas school districts can rebuild the teacher pipeline

If Texas wants excellent public schools, it must make teaching a career worth choosing and staying in. In recent years, the state has seen the number of educators with alternative certifications or no known certifications grow significantly. According to Texas Education Agency data, nearly 15,000 teachers were hired who did not have a Texas certification or were issued an emergency permit to teach. The increase in uncertified teachers is happening amid an ongoing educator shortage in Texas. That is especially significant because the retention rate for uncertified teachers is lower than that of other educators.

By analyzing a decade of data, E3 Alliance researchers found that teachers with no known certification are 70% less likely to stay in the classroom than those with a standard certification, meaning they completed a program that includes student teaching. This equation reduces stability and student learning: Teacher pipeline shrinkage plus uncertified hires equals more classrooms staffed by people with less formal preparation. So, what can Texas do?

Advocate for state policies that support local educators: Money matters, and so does advocacy. Public education supporters made their voices heard this year, and lawmakers listened by passing Texas House Bill 2.

Invest in homegrown residency models and mentorship, not emergency permits: Relying on uncertified teachers as a long-term strategy weakens teacher retention and student outcomes. Instead, we must take action that includes paying student teachers for their work. We should also expand paid, yearlong apprenticeships that pair teacher candidates with master teachers and guarantee job placement afterward. Residency models like these produce prepared, committed educators, and communities can cost-share them among districts, regional universities and philanthropies. According to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, university- and district-based residencies improve educator preparation and retention.

Make every teacher’s money go further with retail and service partnerships: Programs that offer discounts on services, computers, groceries and transportation don’t replace a living wage, but they make day-to-day life materially easier. National platforms, major retailers and local business coalitions already offer teacher discounts and deals. We should scale this and organize a regional network of teacher perks so that every educator gets verified access and local buy-in.

Across the country, schools and nonprofits are using pooled funding platforms to ensure teachers don’t pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket each year for basics. One survey found that teachers, on average, spend more than $600 annually of their own money for their classrooms.

Crowdfunding and business sponsorships dramatically reduce that burden. School districts, chambers of commerce and funders can create local pooled funds and logistics hubs, so supplies are bought in bulk, distributed equitably and delivered directly to schools. We can take this idea even further by creating an emergency fund that teachers can apply to for assistance with housing, car troubles or other issues. The hard work of setting up something like this is administrative.

The soft work is cultural. We must do more to show teachers that they are valued members of our society. We cannot pay lip service to “teacher appreciation” while tolerating low pay, sky-high housing costs and underfunded classrooms.

We have the resources, energy and community involvement to do better. Schools contain the heart and blood of our community: our children. What lesson are we teaching our children if we don’t invest in the adults charged with preparing them for their future?