Yes. They are. A recent article in the Sac Bee showed that California teachers are moving to Texas in large numbers. From 2003 to 2016 over 18,000 teachers moved out of California to other states and Texas received over 6,000. Teacher mobility is increasing and the data in this article is a clear indicator on one of the many reasons California has a teacher shortage.
Last year, when we saw Texas teacher hiring level out, we asked why and a few of our school district partners said they were getting experienced teachers and now we know why.
Is it salary that is bringing teachers to Texas? Sort of – the average salary is significantly lower in Texas – $77K in CA and only $52K in Texas but that $52K goes a lot farther in Texas and there is no state income tax eating away at the salary.
So California needs 21,000 teachers next year, produces about 11,000 from colleges and more people are leaving than coming into the state to teach. A recipe for a serious teacher shortage crisis.
