Southeast Texas P-16 Council

Jane Dunn, a chemistry teacher at Little Cypress-Mauriceville High School in the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Consolidated ISD is one of six outstanding Texas educators chosen as finalists in the Texas Teacher of the Year program.

The six finalists who have a combined 127 years of teaching experience – three elementary and three secondary school educators – were selected from the 40 regional Teachers of the Year from each of the state’s 20 education service center areas. The finalists will now contend for the honor of being named Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year and Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year award from the TEA.

The winners will be announced at an Oct. 15 luncheon at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center at 1900 MLK Blvd. on the University of Texas-Austin campus.

The top two teachers will receive a $5,000 cash prize, a technology package valued at more than $16,500, a computer, a trophy, a travel allowance and other mementos. A $500 cash prize is awarded to the remaining 38 regional Teachers of the Year.

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Four of every 10 Texas teachers moonlight during the school year to make ends meet, and 56 percent take extra jobs during the summer, according to a survey by Sam Houston State University commissioned by the Texas State Teachers Association.

Results of the survey were released July 20, 2010.

The 40.8 percent of respondents who said they held second jobs during the current school year was the highest percentage since TSTA first started sponsoring the biennial survey, “Texas Teachers, Moonlighting and Morale,” 30 years ago.

It was a significant jump from the 28 percent who reported moonlighting in 2008 and the 22 percent who reported having extra jobs when the first survey was conducted in 1980.

“It is a shame that so many of our dedicated educators have to struggle with extra jobs to support their families, but they have no choice,” said TSTA President Rita Haecker. “They are to be commended for going the extra mile each day for their students and their families. It is past time for our elected state officials to give these professionals the professional pay that they deserve.”

Almost half of the respondents (46.7 percent) said they were seriously considering leaving the profession, but the fact that 58.6 percent also were their family’s major breadwinners made that prospect difficult for many teachers.

The online survey of 907 teachers was conducted this spring by faculty members at Sam Houston State University.

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