If teacher pay is the main reason Texas teachers are leaving ...

The TSTA Blog has some straight answers to why there's a teacher shortage.  And it says teacher pay is No. 1, at $7K below the national average.

OTOH, outside of possibly Austin, the Texas housing market costs a lot less than a California or a New York. Pre-COVID, a Dallas or Houston cost less than a Denver, for that matter. The cost of living in Texas in general is below all five Pacific Rim states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, most of New England, at least the greater Chicago part of Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and probably all of Colorado. That's guaranteed. That right there is half the nation's non-Texas population.

To put it another way, and reversing the order of this list, Texas is overall 32nd among the 50 states in cost of living. That's confirmed here. Texas is more than 10 percent below the national average, in fact. So, of course, average teacher pay is going to be below the national average.

It lists rising health care costs as No. 2. Those are happening to everybody (who has insurance). Also pre-COVID. And, Texas teachers have better healthcare than much of the general populace in the state.

So, if those are being listed as the top two reasons, at least pre-COVID, for our teacher shortage, then, IMO, the problem is with teachers as well as the professional structure.

So, I said straight answers. That's not necessarily good answers.