State of Texas: Low Pay and Greater Expectations Have Texas Teachers Singing the Blues

Joanna Wojtkowiak
Patrick Michels
Oct 1, 2014, 8:00 am CST

State of Texas

While school was out this summer, teachers across Texas were sounding off about why their jobs have become so hard. Years of high-stakes testing, chronic under-funding and news stories about failing schools have made classrooms an especially thankless place to work. Last year, the Texas Legislature commissioned a survey to get teachers’ honest opinions about their jobs. Fewer than a fifth of the state’s teachers bothered to reply—a signal, some unions said, of just how deep teachers’ mistrust for lawmakers runs.

Sources: Texas Education Agency, Dallas Morning News, TELL Texas Survey, and National Center for Education Statistics.

Illustration by Joanna Wojtkowiak

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Patrick Michels, a former Observer staff writer, is a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting.


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