Mystery Teacher Pay Group To Hold Another Rally

Posted on May 30, 2014 by A.P. Dillon

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Aim  Higher NC, but they’ve got a rally this weekend to support raising teacher pay. By the way, still no idea who runs Aim Higher NC or who funds them.

 

Unfortunately, Aim Higher seems to have pinned their rally to that Houston job fair ad that seems too good to be true. Aim Higher has named the Facebook page for this rally  “Houston, We Have a Problem: Stop NC’s Education Exodus!”  WWNC 570’s Pete Kaliner thinks Houston has a problem and might be a bit too good to be true too.

Dr. Terry Stoops might know why Houston has a problem and why Houston Independent School District (HISD) is putting ads in other states:

Houston Independent School District (HISD) Superintendent Terry Grier knows where to find good teachers.

After all, Grier is no stranger to North Carolina — he is the former superintendent of Guilford County Schools.  So, nobody should be surprised that Grier is trying to lure teachers from the Triangle to HISD, a district that has close to 60,000 more students than the largest district in North Carolina, Wake County Schools.  If you think the Wake County Schools bureaucracy is bad, you ain’t seen anything yet.  Last year, only half of the over 22,000 HISD staff were teachers.

But that is the least of their concerns.  During the 2012-13 school year, HISD teacher turnover was nearly 19 percent, and it has increased 5.6 percent over the last five years (See Facts and Stats below).  Moreover, the HISD turnover rate was 3.4 percent higher than the Texas state average last year.  In other words, the district’s extremely high turnover rate has forced them to be more aggressive in recruiting teachers.  Raleigh is one among many recruiting trips coordinated by HISD human resources staff.

(Just in case you were wondering, North Carolina’s teacher turnover rate was 14.3 percent or one percentage point lower than the Texas state average last year. Wake County’s 12.1 percent turnover rate wasn’t even in the same ballpark as HISD’s.)

Read the whole thing, Dr. Stoops has more stats for you.

Related: NCAE holding yet another protest, this time not at a school thankfully.

About A.P. Dillon

A.P. Dillon is a freelance journalist and is currently writing at The North State Journal. She resides in the Triangle area of North Carolina. Find her on Twitter: @APDillon_
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