Teacher Relocating to San Antonio

[findhomeinSA]

Hi,

Just came across your thread and thought I'd post a quick reply. The Greater San Antonio TX area is huge and there are lots of school districts to choose from.

The most popular ones seem to be the North East ISD (North East Independent School District) and North Side ISD (Home | Northside Independent School District). However, the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD (Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District) and New Braunfels ISD (New Braunfels ISD) are fairly popular too. Of course that doesn't mean they are the best, just what seems to be desired depending on where folks decide to live.

Again, San Antonio is a HUGE place and has a very large military and medical community and a ton of cities (San Antonio, Schertz, Cibolo, Garden Ridge, Selma, Converse, Live Oak, Helotes, Beorne, etc) I love it here and wish you lots of luck!

Brenda

[SA Greed]

If you choose Helotes, you can drive in 16 which is Bandera rd. and go to Bandera bowl with is Leon Valley. If you choose Boerne then University Bowl would be your bowling fix which down I10 from Boerne. Both places have short drives to the Hill Country to get your day tripping fix. Either one, you will be telling yourself that you should have made the move sooner. Look up Home | Northside Independent School District and Boerne Independent School District for employment opportunities.

Safe is a relative word. Maybe the key word we should be focused on is, Safer.

[texasdiver]

I haven't taught in San Antonio. I currently teach in the Waco area. But I have friends and acquaintances who do teach in San Antonio so I do know something of the schools.

First, something about San Antonio. Unlike other cities, it barely has any suburbs. Or more accurately, the city limits are much more expansive and include most of the areas that would be separate suburbs in other cities. So all those separate suburbs in places like Dallas and Houston are generally within San Antonio proper.

Second, the school districts in San Antonio have not consolidated. There are 17 separate school districts covering the greater San Antonio area. Here is the complete list with their web sites: School Districts - San Antonio EDF That means separate applications to each separate district. It also means that the schools are very gerrymandered and segregated. The wealthy areas have their own districts and the poorer areas have their own districts. Unlike Louisiana, in San Antonio the poorer areas will be mainly Hispanic whereas the wealthy areas will be a mix of Hispanic and Anglo.

Generally speaking, someone in your position who is an Anglo (I assume) and looking to relocate to San Antonio will pick somewhere on the north or northwest side of San Antonio. That is where the majority of upscale suburban neighborhoods and schools are. You can keep going further out to places like Heliotes and Boerne but if it were me and I was single I would stay closer to the city. Those are pretty family-oriented suburbs without much to interest singles I don't think. They are where you move if you want a suburban house with a yard in a top rated school district.

As for finding teaching jobs. The chance of finding a job is going to be pretty much inversely proportional to the wealth of the district. The upscale districts in the wealthier areas have a surplus of teacher candidates. The poorer districts in the south end of town have a harder time keeping teachers. You'll want to apply everywhere and see what choices you have.

Finally on the question of pensions. Generally it is better to keep the pension rather than cashing it in. There are calculators that will help with that. But here in Texas you'll lose about half the value of your pension if you cash it in when you move because you lose the entire district and state contribution and only get to keep your own individual contributions. But do the math yourself. Try the bogleheads forums if you need help analyzing pensions. There are very smart people there who can give good analysis and advice for free. The one wildcard is that Louisiana is among the most horribly managed states in the US and you might just want to take the loss and get you money out if you don't trust them to have your pension money waiting a decade from now.

[buffy888]

I have taught in two districts in San Antonio, and both of them paid teachers monthly.

You can typically get a one-year Texas teaching certificate if you are certified out of state. That will give you a year to take your tests and get certified in Texas. As someone else mentioned, it is helpful to take the released TAKS/STAAR tests (found on the TEA site). You should review the TEKS (standards) for your subjects/grade levels as well. There are also practice certification tests on the ETS site that help give you an idea of the format of the test and the types of questions you will encounter.

I am not familiar with teacher salaries in the Shreveport area, but I do have friends who teach elsewhere in Louisiana. Salaries here are a bit higher than theirs.

Contrary to the previous post, I am Anglo and certainly didn't choose to teach in a district on the north or northwest side. My commute sometimes borders on the ridiculous, but I live in the northeast area of San Antonio and teach on the Westside. That is where I felt I was needed most and where I have been able to make the biggest impact. You don't have to live in the area where you teach. We all teach for different reasons, so your choices may be different. There are multiple districts in the area. As someone new to the area, you likely are going to have to apply to many of them in order to get picked up. We also do have a burgeoning charter school movement with IDEA, KIPP, and Great Hearts being among some of the charter groups in the area. IDEA and KIPP pay above or on par with the highest paying area districts (with the expectation of many more hours put it). Not sure about Great Hearts, but I have heard it is less.

Good luck with your decisions.