SAN ANTONIO – Teachers are known for going above and beyond for their students, but for many, the work doesn’t stop when the school day ends.
A March 2026 report from Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation found that 71% of public school teachers hold at least one side job— highlighting growing concerns about educator pay and workload.
For one San Antonio high school teacher, who asked not to be identified, long hours are just part of the profession.
“I would say the average time that I leave school… it’s between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. every day,” she said. “But last night I was here till 9:30.”
Even with those extended hours, she says her salary isn’t enough to cover basic expenses.
As the sole income earner in her household and with one child in college and another preparing to graduate high school, she found herself needing additional income.
“There are a lot of expenses that come with that,” she said. “If you are a single-income household, then you really need to supplement your income as a teacher because the pay salary is not enough.”
At first, she looked for extra opportunities within the school system. But eventually, she turned to driving for Uber on nights and weekends.
“Sometimes on the weekends, I would work Friday, Saturday night and just try to work as much as I could,” she said.
She also pointed to ongoing staffing shortages, which she says are forcing teachers to take on additional responsibilities without added compensation.
“We are becoming specialists without being compensated,” she said.
Looking ahead, the high school teacher stated that she hopes for changes that could ease the financial burden on educators and make the profession more sustainable.
“My hope is that we have representatives that really try to work together… to come up with just a livable wage so that nobody has to work a side job,” she said.
Here’s a look at the status of teacher openings for the larger school districts in the San Antonio area:
- Northside ISD reports 96 teacher vacancies out of roughly 6,000 positions.
- Northeast ISD has 88 openings.
- San Antonio ISD reports about 88 vacancies, though officials there say that number fluctuates daily.