Many West Texas schools struggle to keep their teachers.
School districts in Midland and Odessa, for instance, have increased funding for incentive programs and offered sign-on bonuses.
Retention was also an issue at Tuesday night's Marfa Independent School Board meeting.
“The state turnover rate consistently for the past decade has been 11 to 12 percent,” said ISD Superintendent Andrew Peters. “We’ve been consistently at 20, 25 percent.”
Peters said this year the district's turnover rate has been even higher— at 35 percent.
Several years ago, staffing was large and so was the school's deficit. Now, the budget is balanced and fewer teachers are handling larger classrooms. Nevertheless, Marfa has lost several teachers this year.
The board plans to recruit at more job fairs and to survey teachers, staff, and parents and to address morale.
“Do we need housing? Do we need higher salaries?” Peters asked, tossing out possible solutions. “What can we do? What’s causing the morale issues?”
Peters speculates another reason teachers are leaving is one that is familiar to other businesses in town.
“A lot of people come here, and they are single, and they’re in their 30s, and they don’t find love in Marfa,” Peters explained. “I’ve had a lot of teachers tell me 'there’s no one to date here,' or 'I can’t find anybody. I need to get back to the city.'”
Peters said the district could solve that issue by hiring retirees, couples with kids, or recent college graduates.
“Let them come to the Big Bend, enjoy it, and if we can get four to five years out of them before they realize they need to go to the city and find love, then we’ll do that,” said Peters.
Peters said another way to retain teachers is not allowing them to break contract. But it is not as simple as saying “don’t leave.”
The school has to hire an attorney to go after the teacher’s certification. So the school loses money and keeps a teacher who does not want to be there.
“Quite honestly, once they’re gone,” Peters said, “I don’t know if I really want to throw that money away.”
What is at stake is academics. The district met state standards for two years in a row, but teacher retention may continue to be a hurdle to success
-- Anna Rose MacArthur.