Killgo On Vacancy Task Force

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) March 10 announced the creation of the Teacher Vacancy Task Force to help address staffing challenges facing Texas public schools. Vidor Superintendent Jay Killgo was asked to be on the committee and is the only representative from Southeast Texas.

While the continued population growth of Texas was already contributing to a staffing shortage in some of the state’s urban and suburban public school districts, schools in various rural areas, and also, those requiring certain specialized teaching positions were also previously experiencing staffing difficulties. COVID has only further amplified this challenge; and spikes in COVID cases have led to many public schools across Texas being short-staffed and unable to find substitute teachers to help fill in where needed.

Additionally, over the last two years, nearly $18 billion in COVID-19 relief funding has been distributed to school systems, allowing for a critical increase in the number of teachers, staff, and other priority support positions needing to be filled in public schools throughout Texas.

“Teachers are the single most important school-based factor affecting student outcomes,” said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath. “The Teacher Vacancy Task Force will further ensure our ability to provide the best guidance, support, and resources to help schools find and retain the teachers they need for all their students.”

TEA is launching the Teacher Vacancy Task Force to ensure that Texas schools are equipped with a comprehensive set of strategies to address these challenges, working to:

• Understand the challenges districts are currently facing related to teacher vacancies
• Share best practices for addressing critical teacher vacancy and shortage areas, including exploring opportunities for certification, placement, and hiring flexibilities
• Develop recommendations for regulatory or other policy changes for TEA
• Provide feedback on TEA initiatives designed to help impact vacancies

The Teacher Vacancy Task Force will rely heavily on the presence and input of current teachers; additionally, TEA plans to have a designated teacher panel in future Task Force meetings to ensure that the agency is receiving guidance and feedback from a diverse and representative range of teachers across Texas.

The Task Force will be comprised of the following leaders in public education hailing from a variety of districts, geographies, and student populations from around the state:

The Task Force will meet every other month for one year, with Commissioner Morath and agency leadership regularly facilitating discussions with Task Force members, while including insights gathered from experts throughout the State of Texas, including direct feedback from teachers.