Excerpts from The Texas Tribune’s The Brief on Texas Politics and Policy
Raises for Texas Teachers
Texas teachers are hopeful that this session lawmakers will use some of the historic $32.7 billion budget surplus to fund raises for educators.
Texas currently ranks 28th in the nation for teacher pay, $7,652 less than the national average, according to the latest report from the National Education Association. https://www.nea.org/resource-library/teacher-salary-benchmarks?utm_source=Texas+Tribune+Newsletters&utm_campaign=29b1658b65-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_01_27_07_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-29b1658b65-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=29b1658b65&mc_eid=6cc747f867
Both Republicans and Democrats have signaled that they intend to use some of the extra money for teacher raises. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick already listed teacher pay raises as one of his legislative priorities late last year, and Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said in a statement last week that he will “continue working with the Legislature to support our teachers.”
But while teacher raises may be a bipartisan issue this session, Republicans may be at odds with Democrats over how to get it done.
A couple of bills calling for teacher raises have already been filed, including one which would give teachers a $15,000 pay raise and other school employees a 25% pay raise. At least one estimate from the Association of Texas Professional Educators says those raises would cost $12 billion every two years.
Current budget proposals from both the Senate and House have also pitched raises for teachers, including allocating additional funding for a program that gives teachers raises based on their performance.
Some educators have voiced concerns that raises could be used as a bargaining chip as Republicans seek more support for “school choice” programs.
But some teachers say that any across-the-board raise would be helpful even if the amount drops.
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