After a yearlong study, the Teacher Vacancy Task Force released its findings to address the significant teacher shortage across Texas.
A lot of what the task force recommended are things Ector County ISD is already doing or considering.
Gov. Greg Abbott created the teacher vacancy task force in 2022. One of the task force members was Ashley Osborne, who was executive director of talent for Ector County ISD but now works for Midland ISD.
“We were very fortunate to have a seat at that table and also a leadership role to help with the creation of some of those solutions,” Superintendent Scott Muri said during his media call Wednesday.
Muri added that the task force talked about the need to increase teacher compensation.
“Today ECISD is the highest paying district in our region, so we’re addressing compensation of our teachers. The task force mentioned that we must invest in multiple pipelines. We must be able to recruit and attract our teacher candidates from a variety of areas; looking at high school students, providing dollars for high school students as they enter college and choose to become education majors; looking at individuals that are career changers that are in other industries, creating pipelines for those individuals; investment in teacher pipelines was also one of their recommendations,” Muri said.
ECISD has a variety of talent pipelines such as high school students that are in Career and Technical Education courses that plan to become teachers.
The district also provides college scholarship opportunities for paraprofessionals who want to become teachers.
ECISD operates its own educator preparation program so people that already have a bachelor’s degree and are interested in education can obtain certification and licenses.
“That recommendation from the task force, again, really complements some of the work that is happening in ECISD. Then the task force also talked about developing and cultivating existing teachers, ensuring that our teachers are among the very best not only in the state, but in the nation,” Muri said.
The task force talks about investing in teachers to become National Board Certified teachers. Currently ECISD has 130 teachers pursuing National Board certification across the state.
“We’re very appreciative of the work that was conducted by the Teacher Vacancy Task Force. Now their recommendations are being considered by our state legislature for potential funding opportunities,” Muri said. “Certainly districts across the state will pay attention to those recommendations and then make adjustments locally to ensure that we are recruiting, attracting and retaining the most effective educators to serve students in the state of Texas and in Ector County Independent School District,” he added.
Muri also congratulated Odessa High School on its AVID Showcase held Feb. 28.
“Odessa High School received visitors from not only around the state of Texas, but also our friends and neighbors in New Mexico came to visit, learning about the AVID program at Odessa High School. We actually operate AVID at each of our middle schools and high schools throughout Ector County,” Muri said.
“AVID is a program that helps our high school students navigate their high school experiences so that they are post secondary ready. It equips them with the skills, with the tools, with the knowledge and wisdom necessary to be effective in a post secondary world,” he added.
