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UTEP grads hopeful on teacher job search as districts face tough times [1]

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Date: 2025-06-08

Between layoffs, school closures and financial deficits, El Paso-area school districts are expected to hire fewer teachers for the 2025-26 academic year than in the past. That has left some recent UTEP graduates concerned about their futures as educators.

Concerned, but not discouraged.

The University of Texas at El Paso graduated about 130 students with bachelor’s degrees in education this spring. Many who earned those degrees planned to teach in elementary or middle schools, or in special education up to grade 12. Some who majored in the sciences, such as mathematics, or one of the humanities, hoped to teach in high schools.

Jonna Perrillo, a UTEP professor of English, instructs students on methods they can use as secondary education teachers. She said that this is the worst job market she has seen for her former students in the past 20 years. To her, it means that many may have to move away.

“To have done everything that was asked of them as students … their very best work, and all the energy they brought to that process, and to have nothing waiting for them at the end is just difficult,” Perrillo said. “Maybe they’ll be in great demand somewhere else.”

The professor called many of her former students creative, energetic, highly motivated, and extremely capable. But she said they cannot find jobs and some cannot even get an interview.

Jonna Perrillo sits at the historic entrance of Crockett Elementary, a school featured in her book “Educating the Enemy: Teaching Nazis and Mexicans in the Cold War Borderlands.” (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

Jacob Carrasco, a music major with a minor in secondary education, said he was concerned about his job prospects. As of Wednesday, he still had not secured a job. He said that he had passed his state teacher certifications by March and was completing his student teaching at secondary education campuses in the Socorro Independent School District. His job was to help with orchestras, rehearsals and competitions.

SISD’s decision to not renew the contracts of 43 middle and elementary school teachers last month had him worried, even though his mentor teacher assured him that positions would open as current teachers resigned or retired.

“I feel very nervous that I’m not going to find anything,” the viola player said during a prior interview this spring.

To be clear, there are open teaching positions in the area, according to the El Paso Independent School District and the Region 19 Education Service Center job openings website. As of mid-May, EPISD had 137 openings, including 76 at the elementary level. The Ysleta and Socorro school districts did not respond to requests for numbers, but Region 19 listed more than 70 teacher positions between the two districts.

Starting pay for entry-level teachers in EPISD is $57,750. SISD and YISD pay $60,500 and a couple of thousand more if the teacher has a master’s or doctoral degree.

According to Region 19, its 12 public school districts along with some private and charter schools employed more than 10,500 teachers from pre-kindergarten through high school during the 2024-25 academic year. That is down by almost 500 teachers from two years ago, based on Texas Education Agency figures.

While some recent UTEP graduates shared their frustrations with the situation, more talked about their excitement at having secured a job or being encouraged with good prospects.

Alexandra “Alex” Dark, 25, said she had yet to land her dream elementary school teaching job. The education major said that she was aware of the issues faced by area districts through news reports and classroom discussions, but was not too concerned.

Alexandra Dark waits inside Memorial Gym at the University of Texas at El Paso before participating in the spring commencement ceremony at the Don Haskins Center. Like many in UTEP’s College of Education Class of 2024, Dark remained optimistic about her future as an elementary school teacher despite uncertainties in the local job market. (Courtesy photo)

“It’s too late (to worry),” she said with a smile about an hour before she walked the stage May 18 in the Don Haskins Center. “I’m still happy with my degree. I’m still grateful.”

The Texas Workforce Commission predicted an 11% increase in K-12 teacher job opportunities in the state this year and beyond. However, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there will be a 1% decline nationally in the need for K-12 teachers through 2033.

Melissa Meza, 24, graduated from Fabens High School in 2019. The first-generation college student earned an EC (Early Childhood)-6 general degree and secured a job with Benito Martinez Elementary School in Fort Hancock, a town about 23 miles southeast of Fabens.

Meza said that she had looked for a job closer to home, but understood it is a tough market these days. She heard that one job post at a rural district garnered about 100 applications. Regardless, she looked forward to her first year as a certified teacher.

“There are no words to describe how I am feeling,” Meza said.

Sol Rodriguez, a 2020 Jefferson High School graduate, said she attended every job fair and participated in six interviews before she secured a job as a fourth-grade teacher at EPISD’s Dr. Josefina Villamil Tinajero PK-8 School.

Rodriguez said the difficult part of her job search was the district’s decision to prioritize finding positions for their displaced faculty members.

Clifton Tanabe, dean of UTEP’s College of Education, did not respond to specific questions about how his college’s instructors advised students about the current teacher job situation, efforts to track employment of his college’s graduates, or the numbers who earned their state certifications.

He did send a statement about how there always will be a need for teachers, and how UTEP will continue to work with school districts and community partners to prepare the highest-quality teachers for the region and beyond.

Several graduates who said they had secured teaching jobs said they were part of the Miner Teacher Residency program, which exposes student teachers to all aspects of the profession for an academic year. UTEP said that 132 of its teacher candidates participated in the 2024-25 cohort, and an additional 75 started this past spring and will finish in December.

While a year or so away from graduation, junior music major Andrea Melendez said her family has encouraged her to have a backup plan because of the uncertainties of fine arts in public schools. She said mentors from area school districts have echoed that sentiment.

The 2022 graduate of Coronado High School said she may extend her stay at UTEP to pursue a counseling degree she could use at a middle school or high school. She hoped that district administrators would understand the value of fine arts in elementary schools by the time she graduates.

“It’s looking kind of grim for us,” Melendez said this spring. “Hopefully with time, things will get better.”

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[1] Url: https://elpasomatters.org/2025/06/08/teacher-jobs-el-paso-for-utep-grads-episd-yisd-sisd/

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