It's no secret that teachers unfortunately do not have the highest of wages, but for many California teachers the low salary plus rising costs of living are driving them out of state. Throughout the last 13 years, more teachers left California than came in from other states, 18,000 to be specific. This information comes from a Sacramento Bee review of U.S. Census Bureau data that shows the number of teachers under 65 who have migrated between California and other states.
Most of these teachers are fleeing to Texas with about 6,000 more teachers going to Texas than coming to California.
According to the National Education Association, the average teacher salary in Texas is about $52,000. The average teacher salary in California is $77,000 which is much higher than Texas but factor in the cost of living and Texas teachers make about as much as the ones in California.
California colleges are educating fewer teachers and migration from other states isn't accounting for much either so school districts are increasingly hiring intern teachers who can earn credits while still in school.
This is resulting in many California schools hiring under-prepared teachers. A number of teachers who were not fully certified were hired in school districts including Sacramento City Unified (34 percent), Stockton Unified (54 percent) and Fresno Unified (31 percent) according to the Learning Policy Institute.
California school districts estimate they will hire about 21,000 new teachers next school year, where these teachers will come from is uncertain.
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