In San Antonio, the school day is only half the job for a lot of teachers. After the final bell, many are swapping grade books for gig apps, squeezing in second jobs to keep up with rent, tuition and basic bills.
One local high school teacher told KSAT she often walks out of the building between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., but on some nights she is still on campus at 9:30. After that, she hops in her car and drives for Uber on nights and weekends to bring in extra cash. She is the only income earner in her household and said ongoing staffing shortages are stacking unpaid duties on top of her regular workload.
"My hope is that representatives will work to provide a livable wage so nobody has to work a side job," she told KSAT. Her story is playing out while local districts keep listing dozens of open teaching positions, leaving remaining staff stretched thin.
What the Gallup study found
A March report from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation found that roughly 71% of public school teachers hold at least one side job. Most of those gigs are worked at least partly during the school year, not just over summer break. The research, titled "Teaching for Tomorrow: Staying Power," is based on a nationally representative survey of teachers and flags financial strain as a major driver of burnout and turnover.
According to the Gallup report, 21% of teachers say they find it difficult to get by on their household income. About one third have taken an additional job that is unrelated to education in the past year, and 85% of teachers with side gigs work them for at least part of the school year. The study links that financial pressure to higher levels of frequent burnout and a lower likelihood that teachers plan to stay in the classroom long term, a combination that feeds the recruitment and retention problems districts are wrestling with.
A local staffing crunch
San Antonio area districts say the staffing crunch is very real. Northside ISD recently reported about 96 teacher vacancies out of roughly 6,000 positions. Northeast ISD listed 88 openings, and San Antonio ISD estimated about 88 vacancies, though officials cautioned those numbers change from day to day, as reported by KSAT.
District leaders say those gaps can leave campuses short handed for planning periods, electives and specialist roles. The result is that existing staff often stretch their hours to cover extra classes and duties. Recruiting to fill those open spots remains a top priority heading into the next school year.
How teachers supplement income
Across the country, teachers are patching together a wide range of side gigs, often during the school year. Some turn to private tutoring or coaching, others pick up food service shifts or drive for rideshare companies. Reporting from CNN on the same survey highlighted teachers who work spray tanning or bartending jobs to afford housing and reach savings goals.
The National Education Association puts the national average teacher salary for 2023-24 at about $72,030. That benchmark helps explain why so many educators say they feel pushed toward extra income, especially in cities where living costs continue to creep up.
What districts and lawmakers are trying
Some districts are testing targeted pay boosts, stipends and state incentive programs that increase take home pay for hard to staff roles. In the San Antonio area, efforts to stack local stipends with state money have produced attention grabbing offers in the six figure range for select educators. Previous Hoodline coverage on that approach dangles $100K paychecks to lure top teachers to the toughest campuses.
Advocates say those strategies can help in the short term but argue that broader, sustained salary growth is needed if districts want to ease the pressure to work side jobs. Teachers and community groups point to the data and local reporting and land on the same conclusion: classrooms need competitive pay and manageable workloads if districts hope to keep educators in the profession.
For now, many San Antonio teachers are balancing lesson planning, extra unpaid responsibilities and second jobs, often with very long days and late nights. They say the question is whether lawmakers and school boards will move fast enough to fix the strain before more educators burn out or walk away.
