1) ESSER was federal and temporary, it basically kept schools from going bankrupt (in many situations) during the covid crisis. It also went far past the minimum amount needed to keep things going. It did things for schools that the federal government has never done and was the largest federal mandate for public education ever.
2) Schools are facing a shrinking workforce. Because of this districts know they need to do things to keep teachers working in their schools. One of those things is to raise teacher salaries. Last year a lot of districts chose to raise teacher salaries so that they could keep a workforce with a "wink,wink" from politicians that additional funding was coming from them soon because of the large surplus in the state's fund. That has not happened because Abbot wants vouchers and will not let anything go through for education until vouchers are passed.
3) Schools are about to have massive RIFs that may rival the cuts we saw in 2011 if something isn't done soon by our legislature. The school I am in now is opening 2 new campuses and attempting to open them with minimal hiring. This is also because of the legislative blocade by the Republicans.
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