The difficulty recruiting teachers becomes an issue in the governor's race in Texas

The difficulty recruiting teachers becomes an issue in the governor's race in Texas

Transcript¹

A day after Democratic gubernatorial challenger Beto O'Rourke outlined education policies, Gov. Greg Abbott formed a task force to fill vacant teaching positions.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Recruiting and keeping teachers emerged as an issue this week in the governor's race in Texas. Democrat² Beto O'Rourke outlined his education policies. And then one day later, Republican Governor Greg Abbott set up a task force to fill vacant teaching positions. From member station KUT in Austin, Joseph Leahy reports.

JOSEPH LEAHY, BYLINE³: At a town hall event in Dallas last Sunday, former El Paso Congressman⁴ Beto O'Rourke devoted⁵ his first public speech since winning the Democratic nomination⁶ to supporting teachers and increasing public school funding.

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BETO O'ROURKE: Just to get to average pay in America, our educators in Texas would need to be paid 7,500 more per year. Now that's average. You go to some parts of the state and it's $15,000 more per year. It's $18,000...

LEAHY: The next day, Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered up a new task force to address staffing shortages in school districts across the state. That's a shift from Abbott's more conservative primary campaign rhetoric⁷. Here he was in January, channeling conservative uproar⁸ over mask requirements and teaching about race and sexuality in schools.

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GREG ABBOTT: And that is why I am campaigning on passing a parents' bill of rights to restore parents to their rightful role as the primary decision maker⁹ for their children's education and health care matters. Parents matter.

LEAHY: Teachers' unions in Texas have welcomed the governor's new task force.

CLAY ROBISON: We're kind of surprised to hear the governor do this since all we've been hearing from him for the past several months are attacks on teachers and attacks on the public schools.

LEAHY: Texas State Teachers Association spokesman Clay Robison says the pandemic exacerbated¹⁰ teacher vacancies¹¹. And recruitment and retention¹² shortfalls have dogged the state for nearly a decade.

ROBISON: Even before the pandemic, you take any given year, you have X number of teachers who start their careers. Within five years, half of them are gone because the pay is just not keeping up.

LEAHY: This is a nationwide problem, says Chad Aldeman at Georgetown University. He says salary increases aren't enough. He says teacher shortages are mostly in specific subjects, such as language, math, science and special education.

CHAD ALDEMAN: Districts and states need to respond accordingly. They need to break the mindset that one size fits all for all of their teachers and all of their employees.

LEAHY: And for Texas voters, O'Rourke and Abbott hope their positions on education policy will help them win in November.

For NPR News, I'm Joseph Leahy in Austin.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

6 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

7 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

8 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

9 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

10 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 vacancies   

n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺

参考例句：

• job vacancies 职位空缺
• The sign outside the motel said \"No Vacancies\". 汽车旅馆外的招牌显示“客满”。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。