Speaker: Samantha Dunaway, Teacher, Cedar Hill ISD
Samantha Dunaway: I honestly don't know how much longer I can survive working in Texas education. I don't know how long I can stay in the classroom, even though I love working with the children and the scholars. In order to give me the security to want to stay in this profession, I would need more pay in order to pay my bills and make ends meet. Even though I have no children of my own, I have five different jobs. My main source of income is my teaching profession, but I do have four other side hustles that I have to do in order to make sure all of my bills are paid. And because of the many different jobs, I am stretched very thin and definitely feel burnout. And I do not feel I can give 100% to my students because I'm having to do everything it takes just to make ends meet for myself to survive. We do not have livable working wages. We cannot sustain this career with the current pay offerings.
