One Reason for California’s Teacher Shortage: They’re Moving to Texas

California’s colleges produce some of the best teachers in America.  The only problem — at least for the state of California — is that their colleges are not producing enough new graduates who want to be employed in the Sunshine state.  And teachers from other states don’t want to move to California, either.

I don’t blame them.  I live in Northern California and I’m sick and tired of the terrible regulations, the overwrought bureaucrats, and the insane taxes.

The Sacramento Bee reports just how unattractive teachers from other states find California:

From 2003 through 2016, about 18,000 more elementary and secondary school teachers left California than came from other states, according to a Bee review of U.S. Census Bureau data. The worst losses were during the height of the housing boom, when home prices were peaking, but they have continued throughout the economic recovery.

California saw the largest net loss of teachers to Texas. About 6,000 more teachers left California for Texas than came here from the Lone Star State from 2003 through 2016.

But here’s the interesting data from 2003 through 2016.  Approximately 6,000 more teachers left California for Texas than the other way around.  Now that’s telling.  Here’s another data point:

The average teacher salary in Texas is about $52,000, far below the average teacher salary of $77,000 in California, according to the National Education Association. But when adjusted for cost of living, teachers in Texas make about as much as their peers in California.

Exactly.  Most everyone I know here in California either wants to, or is in the process of leaving…including me.  I can’t wait to say goodbye to the once Golden State.  Still have some great friends here, and I will miss those I leave behind.  But other than the good people still left, its climate and natural beauty, living here sucks. California bureaucrats are making this beautiful state inhospitable to normal people who need to put food on their tables.  Once the hotbed of innovation and investment, every single branch, every department, and seemingly every last bureaucrat is intent on destroying what originally made California great.  

Welcome to the great out-migration.

Image Credit: Jason Lawrence on Flickr