SENATE PANEL APPROVES TEACHER PAY RAISE PLAN
(AUSTIN) — Teachers would receive a pay raise and the state would create a schedule for regular pay increases based on years of service under a bill approved unanimously by the Senate Education K-16 Committee on Thursday. Conroe Senator and committee chair Brandon Creighton said his bill will accomplish that by creating a new, teacher-salary-dedicated line item separate from the basic allotment, the key variable used by the state to calculate per-school funding. This will make it clear, he said, that the state will support and maintain increased pay for teachers. “In creating that, we’re creating a budget culture of permanence and a budget culture that makes it very clear when that allotment cup is full, and when it’s not,” Creighton said. Teacher pay is one of the seven emergency items on Governor Greg Abbott’s agenda, allowing immediate legislative action on the issue.
Senator Brandon Creighton of Conroe said that SB 26 is only the first step in a package of legislation intended to improve working conditions for Texas public school teachers.
The new allotment would be called the Teacher Retention Allotment and could only be used for classroom teacher salaries and not be diverted to other school expenses. Of the nearly $5 billion earmarked for the allotment in the Senate budget, 80 percent would be dedicated to across-the-board pay raises and would establish a schedule where teachers automatically receive pay raises in their 3rd and 5th years. For larger districts with more than 5,000 students, teachers could expect a $2,500 annual raise in year 3 and a $5,500 raise in year 5. Year five, said Creighton, is a critical point in a teacher’s career, often when they decide whether to stay in the classroom or find another line of work.
The bill also seeks to reduce the gap between rural and urban teacher pay. Teachers in small rural or suburban districts with less than 5,000 students would receive $5,000 and $10,000 raises in years 3 and 5, respectively. “No state has ever made a teacher pay commitment of this magnitude,” said Creighton.
The bill would also expand the Teacher Incentive Allotment, a merit-based compensation framework that Creighton says has seen a massive increase in popularity since its inception in 2019, rising from just 300 participants to 30,000 participants in six years. Among the three tiers of bonus compensation, teachers who earn the highest “Master Teacher” designation could earn between $12,000 and $36,000 in additional pay. With the guaranteed raises and potential for increased merit pay, Houston Senator Paul Bettencourt said that this would give young teachers more certainty about a career in the classroom. “This is a profession that, if they like it, they can make a living at it,” he said. Creighton noted that many teachers are currently making six-figure salaries under the program.
On the floor Thursday, the Senate passed another bail reform bill, a measure nearly identical to one passed by the body 30-1 in 2023. SJR 5 would ask the voters to approve an amendment to the constitution that would give judges discretion to deny bail to individuals accused of the most serious violent offenses. Should a judge make that determination, it would have to be based on clear and convincing evidence that the defendant represents a threat to public safety and they would have to release a written ruling explaining their reasoning.
This is the fifth time the Senate has passed such a measure, according to author and Houston Senator Joan Huffman. Since the body first took up and passed a similar measure in 2021, Huffman said that at least 162 people have been murdered in Harris County alone by suspects out on bond at the time of the offense. “Think about that: one hundred and sixty two people needlessly killed, families grieving and suffering, because this legislature failed to enact common-sense, fair legislation,” she said. Because it proposes a constitutional amendment, the measure must receive two-thirds support of both chambers before it can be signed by the governor and put before voters on the November ballot. Following the overwhelming, bipartisan passage in the Senate, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick urged members to work with their House counterparts to get the bill over the finish line this session.
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