Abc News is marking American Education Week all across the network by highlighting the contributions of educators and students across the country, while taking a closer look at the future of education in America. Tonight, ABC's Maurea Vial reports from Texas on the nationwide teacher shortage since the start of the pandemic and the efforts of one school district to recruit and retain teachers. It's part of our series, The American Classroom.

Good morning, everybody. Hi, everyone. Hi. All right, friends, are you ready?

Cailan Ruiz is no stranger to Tash Elementary School in mesquite, Texas, a suburb just outside Dallas.

It's super personal and super special to me because I did walk these halls at one point. Bravery? Good. You think he's brave? I think so too. I would be super brave to go against her, right? When this opportunity presented to get hired here, It's a good word for it. I mean, I was ecstatic and I felt like God put me here for a reason. It's a highlighted word because it's what? A vocabulary word. Good.

A former student here, Luis, is now in her first year teaching fourth grade after serving as a kindergarten para-professional or teaching assistant since 2021, the middle of the pandemic.

I've never had a backup plan. Teaching is just the goal for me. Teaching has just always been what I've wanted to do. It's a true passion.

Okay, Christian, what you got me?

Across town, Jeffrey Blackwell has brought the courtroom to his classroom, literally.

How many other people go online regularly to read.

Their news? Blackwell leads his high school speech, debate, and academic decathlon classes with a replica courtroom bench at the head of the class. Blackwell is a former attorney who left the courtroom 20 years ago to start teaching at his alma mater, Potide High School. I feel like when I'm watching you, you seem so engaged. This is your happy place. Oh, for sure.

It's always been that way for school to me. From when I was a kid all the way to now, in an environment in which you get to learn and play with thought, play with ideas and perspectives and dealing with kids that have such great minds and present things from perspectives I'm not even thinking about. So we're all learning together, and that's what makes it so special. You can be about anything you want. It just needs to be two-sided.

As the son and grandson of teachers, the 47-year-old can't see himself anywhere else.

There's always going to be compelling arguments not to be a teacher in terms of the marketplace, dealing with certain issues that's just a part of the profession. But being a teacher, it's a calling. That's what teaching is. That's who we are.

Ruiz and Blackwell are just two of the thousands of teachers in the mesquite Independent School district, which serves more than 38,000 students in 51 schools. And like school systems across the country, mesquite faced unprecedented challenges in 2020.

All schools in the state of Texas.

Shall be temporarily closed.

Doctor Angel Rivera, now the district superintendent, was the assistant back in 2020 as the COVID crisis began to unfold.

We had to have teachers work on two platforms, the face-to-face while simultaneously doing a virtual piece. And so pretty much it'd double up their work. It probably expedited people leaving the profession. If the teachers were stressed before, they probably doubled their level of stress at that particular time.

Initially, my concern, especially with older kids, is are they going to show up online? Or is it going to be me talking to an empty computer screen? They wanted to be there. That moment where they're in the classroom, even if that classroom is virtual, was a sense of normalcy for them because everything else was abnormal.

As the pandemic dragged on, school staffing shortages swept the nation. Around 300,000 public school teachers and other staff members left the field as the pandemic took hold, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But COVID merely put a microscope on issues teachers and school staff had been dealing with for years.

I hear that teachers aren't being as supported when it comes to behavior in the classroom. A lot of them are leaving because of the pay. They just say it's very hard to live on teacher's salary. Personally, I'm doing okay, but I have great support at home with a husband. And if you're not, if you don't have a family, it could be difficult to live on your own.

Administrators were tasked with figuring out how to fill those vacancies. When you're looking at the fact that teachers are saying, We're not getting paid enough, we're not supported when it comes to behavioral issues, I'm going to leave. How do you come into that? It seems like some pretty big challenges.

It was very obvious that we had to establish prestige in a teaching position, and it was very obvious that we had to prioritize teaching positions, and we did just that.

So Dr. Rivera made more funding his top priority. A local tax measure he presented to voters narrowly passed a year ago, leading to $16 million in new revenue annually for the district. Critical funding used in part to boost teacher's salaries. How did you explain to them that it's not about like, Oh, we would like the money. It's more like, No, we need this money.

I said, This money would be paying us safety and security, teacher compensation along with paraprofessionals, and then programming for kids. Those were my three points. I kept it to three. I went around and when they did pass it, I said, This is what we're going.

To do. In addition, the district implemented new programs like Pace, which helps teaching assistants pay for school as they fill vacancies while working towards becoming fully certified teachers.

You all are overachievers.

Ruiz is part of the Pace program. It's just.

A very special program for parents because so many of us want to go into teaching. We just didn't have the means to get there, and so this program truly helped us get our foot in the door. It's good. I've always wanted to be in education. I love kids. I have a passion for them.

How many of you all get your news primarily from.

Social media? For veteran staffers like Blackwell, even before the pandemic, the district's excellence in teaching incentive program gave a financial boost to stay in the classroom.

They were trying to figure out a way that the district can grow better teachers, and that takes time and it takes additional instruction and training. If you go through this two year program, then there's going to be a paid increase, a stipend that's attached to that. And if you continue on to get your masters in certain areas, we're going to give you more money. That time and that commitment that the teachers are making are going to be rewarded by increased salary.

As the pandemic wanting, the district says it was able to cut teacher vacancies from 145 at the start of last school year to just 16 this year. Superintendent Rivera is also working to introduce AI technology that he hopes will help his staff keep up with the needs of their students.

I will say, Angel, are you interested in this? Are you interested in that? When I was in school, I was only exposed to the things the teachers would tell me about, which back then there wasn't a lot.

It's about heroes?

But now we keep talking about the jobs and fields that could be a possibility? Yeah. Well, let's stop preparing kids for a world that doesn't exist when they graduate college and let them explore it. I'm a believer that this AI system can actually help students discover something within themselves that they didn't even know.

The impact of these teaching programs felt by teachers and students alike. The teachers.

They're not just.

Your.

Teachers and your mentors.

They're your friends. You can tell that a lot of the teachers here have a passion for.

What they do.

They're all our kids. And I think that passion, that sense of purpose, they see it in our eyes and our actions, and so they don't necessarily question that.

But there's more to be done as educators look to reinvigorate the industry.

We want it to be better, and we're striving. We've dedicated our lives to it.

So much respect for teachers. Our thanks to Moriah for that. And be sure to tune in across all ABC news platforms this week for more coverage on The American Classroom.

Hi, everyone. George Stephanopoulos here. Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel. If you'd like to get more videos, show highlights, and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel. And don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts. Thanks for watching.