As Teacher Pay Lags, Attrition and Class Size Grow

On Friday July 11, Morgan Smith wrote an article for the Texas Tribune entitled As Teacher Pay Lags, Attrition and Class Size Grow. The article is quite interesting because it describes the current and future challenges in primary and secondary education facing Texas. The article also describes the good things Texas is doing in public education, but it warns that these achievements may be lost in the coming years if teacher pay lags too far behind the average pay for teachers in other states. Some of the current and future challenges in public education mentioned in the article include the fact that Texas has a "...growing population of economically disadvantaged and English-language learning students..." (Smith). The article then states that even with these challenges and lower per-student spending than most states, Texas still has higher than average educational performance. However, Morgan Smith points out the fact that the average teacher in Texas makes $8,000 less than the national average and the fact that Texas ranks 35th in teacher pay nationally. These facts should be a concern to all citizens of Texas. With a population that continues to grow, funding for public education has to increase from current levels. If funding does not at least keep pace with population growth, class sizes will have to increase due to a lack of teachers. Larger class sizes could then lead to lower performance outcomes for students. Lower performance outcomes could result in students who are not ready for college or the workforce. Texas must make funding for public education a priority. Works Cited Smith, Morgan. "As Teacher Pay Lags, Attrition and Class Size Grow." The Texas Tribune 11 July 2014