More Than Twenty Fice Percent Of Texas Teachers Work Two Jobs

Everyone in Texas knows that teacher pay in Texas has been historically low. Thus, it should come as no surprise that more than 25 percent of all Texas teachers must have a second job to pay their bills and survive–not to mention that 44 percent of teachers are seriously considering another profession, according to a new survey by the Texas State Teacher’s Association, mentioned in the Statesman.

That Texas ranked 32nd among the 50 states in terms of teacher pay in the most recent statistics from the American Federation of Teachers (which is a couple of years old) coupled with the stats from the TSTA study should be a wake-up call for members of the Texas Legislature. Democrats have already taken notice of the problem, and last session, House Democrats took some steps to help rectify this problem last year by passing an historic teacher pay raise.

Of course, not everyone in the House voted for the teacher pay raise when State Rep. Rick Noriega (who is now running for U.S. Senate) worked to amend the General Appropriations Act to have it included:

Nays — Anderson; Aycock; Berman; Bohac; Branch; Brown, B.; Brown, F.; Callegari; Chavez; Chisum; Christian; Cook, B.; Corte; Crabb; Creighton; Crownover; Davis, J.; Delisi; Driver; Eissler; Elkins; Flynn; Gattis; Hancock; Hardcastle; Harless; Harper-Brown; Hill; Howard, C.; Hughes; Isett; Jackson; Keffer; King, P.; Kolkhorst; Latham; Laubenberg; Macias; Madden; Morrison; Mowery; Murphy; O’Day; Parker; Paxton; Riddle; Smith, W.; Smithee; Solomons; Straus; Taylor; Truitt; Turner; Woolley; Zedler; Zerwas.

A couple of those Reps (Mowery, Macias, O’Day, etc.) are either out or on their way out having resigned, elected not to run again, or having been defeated in primaries. Others, like Betty Brown, John Davis, Myra Crownover, and Vicki Truitt, have opponents who will, hopefully, make sure to throw this vote right in their faces like a platter full of hot grits this fall.

Here is another tidbit from the press release that is important to note:

Despite pay gains over the past two years, salaries remain a significant issue for Texas teachers. Only about 5 percent of all U.S. workers have to hold second jobs to make ends meet. In sharp contrast, 28 percent of Texas teachers have to moonlight. They work an average of 11.5 hours a week at their second jobs, even though 71 percent believe it is having a negative impact on their teaching. Moonlighting teachers make an average of $8,288 per year, up from only $4,952 two years ago. Even though 88 percent of those who moonlight would like to quit, each would need a minimum annual raise of $8,970 to do so.

As the prices of food, fuel and other basics continue to rise rapidly, the extra income teachers earn from moonlighting becomes even more important. The restrictions the Texas Legislature in 2006 imposed on the amount of new money school districts can raise and the Legislature’s own unwillingness to commit new funding to public education further erode the economic well-being of the teachers.

That 28 percent of Texas teachers forced to moonlight is nearly seven times the percentage of the entire American workforce that is forced to work two jobs. That’s pretty terrible.

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