Texas Teacher Employment Trends

A recent report gives insight into teacher employment trends throughout the state of Texas.

The Texas Teacher Workforce Report from the University of Houston’s Education Research Center examines the sustainability of the Texas teacher workforce and the way the workforce has changed over the past decade.

Notably, the number of public school classroom teachers decreased in 2024-2025 — the lowest number since 2019-2020 and proportionally a larger decrease than the decrease in student enrollment in the same timeframe.

Data shows teachers have less pre-classroom preparation and fewer standard teacher certifications compared to teachers a decade ago. In Texas, school districts have been able to exempt themselves from certification requirements through a District of Innovation (DOI) plan as outlined in Texas Education Code (TEC) § 21.003. Initially, the only unallowed exemptions were certifications for bilingual, English as a second language, prekindergarten, and special education.

House Bill (HB) 2 of the 89th legislative session added TEC § 21.0032, limiting specific foundational subjects from certification exemption in a DOI plan. Certification exemption limitations will phase in over the next several years. Additional information can be found in the HRX article Navigating HB 2 DOI Certification Requirements (member login required).

Read the full Texas Teacher Workforce Report for more about changes in:

• Teacher demographics
• Preparation and certification
• Retention and mobility
• Salaries

HR Services members can create customized comparison reports using TASB HRDataSource™, our online data compilation tool. Data is drawn from HR Services' salary and HR surveys and can be run based on ESC, enrollment, and district or college name.