School bells are ringing for kids, teachers, and staff in Dallas and 31 other local school districts as summertime activities have officially been replaced with school schedules as of Monday.
Dallas ISD, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Cedar Hill ISD, Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD, Frisco ISD, Garland ISD, Irving ISD, and Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD are just some of the local districts kicking off the school year on Monday, reported Fox 4 KDFW. Then, on Tuesday, twenty-nine more districts will go back, including Fort Worth, Plano, Richardson, Carroll, Crowley, Duncanville, Granbury, Grand Prairie, Lewisville, and Prosper.f
However, teachers may not be as excited as they once were to return to the classroom.
New hires are essential, as a recent survey showed nearly 65% of Texas teachers admitted that they were seriously considering leaving the education profession at the end of 2023-24, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Additionally, 33% percent of the teachers who participated in the survey reported that they had to work additional jobs throughout the school year to cover their expenses. On average, these teachers devoted 13.5 hours per week to their extra employment, equivalent to their time on non-teaching school responsibilities outside of the classroom each week.
Dallas ISD currently educates approximately 140,000 students and employs 10,000 teachers, with around 650 being new recruits for the current academic year. According to the latest Texas Education Agency accountability reports, only 41% of Dallas ISD students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams during the 2021-2022 school year. Additionally, just 81.1% of graduating seniors that year earned a diploma on time that term.
While some teachers may struggle with returning to the classroom, retailers love this time of year.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) reported that e-commerce sites (57%), department stores (50%), discount stores (47%), apparel stores (42%), and electronic stores (23%) are the top choices for back-to-school shopping.
On average, families this year with kids in elementary through high school are anticipated to spend about $874.68 on clothing, footwear, school supplies, and electronic devices. The overall projected back-to-school expenditure is estimated to reach $38.8 billion, marking the second-highest amount on record, trailing 2023’s peak of $41.5 billion.
Last year’s peak was driven, in part, by electronics, with Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist stating, “These are typically items students can use for several years, which may be why we are seeing slightly less interest in electronics this year,” per NRF.