Will Texas teachers, state employees get pay raises? The answer is tangled in these bills
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the release of a conference committee report for the state budget and HB 100 being sent to a conference committee.
Raises could be coming for teachers and state employees as the Texas legislative session is in its final days — but for educators, the pay bump has become intertwined with lawmakers’ debate over school vouchers, adding a hurdle to the push.
State spending negations continue ahead of the session’s end on Monday. While state employees appear on track to get more money, some are doubtful there will be teacher raises.
“Bleak is now bleaker,” said Monty Exter, the director of government relations for the Association of Texas Professional Educators.
The push for teacher pay raises came to a head this week when Senate Republicans added a proposal for a voucher-like program to a school finance bill, House Bill 100, that includes salary increases for educators. Another twist came Wednesday afternoon when a different bill that also could have been a vehicle for teacher raises was postponed past the end of the session.
Vouchers have been a point of tension between the two chambers, as the House resists using public money for private education. Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott has toured the state calling for parental choice and education savings accounts — warning he will call a special session if the policy doesn’t pass.
The last-minute addition to House Bill 100 “dooms the last bill standing that includes a true educator compensation increase and general education funding,” educator association Executive Director Shannon Holmes said in a Monday statement.
“The Legislature has a historic budget surplus at its disposal, which means it has a historic opportunity to invest in our state’s future—the public schoolchildren of Texas,” Holmes said. “Yet the Senate has chosen to prioritize politics over kids.”
By late Tuesday, the Senate had approved the bill. It next heads to a conference committee, where lawmakers negotiate the two versions, but the clock is ticking. Sunday is the deadline for the chambers to reach and approve a compromise.
Teacher pay raises caught in voucher debate
Exter sees House Bill 100 as the last remaining vehicle for teacher pay raises.
As passed out of the House, the bill would set minimum salaries based on years of experience and certification for teacher, librarians and counselors — ranging from $35,000 for an employee with no certification to $63,000 for certain teachers with at least 10 years of experience. Minimum salaries range from $33,660 to $54,540 annually, according to the Texas Education Commission.
It also increases the basic allotment for how much schools get per student and how much of that money must be used to compensate educators. Exter estimated teachers making a minimum salary could see an extra $6,400 to $6,500 on average each year.
But the fight over vouchers — which has escalated in recent days — could get in the way of the raises, as the Senate and House feud and make changes to each others’ bills.
The Senate version of the bill that may be teachers’ best hope for a pay boost now includes an Education Savings Account program. This would allow public money that would have gone to a student’s public school to instead be spent on private education.
“The Senate keeps on tagging this whole idea about vouchers onto things, and yet the House has spoken on vouchers, and so that’s causing somewhat of a problem because the Senate has to pick off the blinders and not look at ... education only as an opportunity to add vouchers to it,” said Dutton, who on Wednesday shot down a Senate bill that included teacher pay measures.
The add on to House Bill 100 linking teacher pay to education savings accounts has been blasted by some groups representing teachers and public education interests, but proposals for teacher pay bumps have also not been without criticism.
A compromise budget released Thursday was criticized by teacher groups for not including an increase for the basic allotment schools receive for students, one way that teachers could see raises.
“Legislators began the session with a record $33 billion budget surplus and a deplorably under-funded public education system and deplorably underpaid teachers,” Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina said in a May 22 statement. “They are ending the session with a deplorably under-funded public education system and teacher pay raises that amount to scraps left over from a feeding frenzy of property tax relief. And teachers are ending the session still fighting off an effort to take even more money from public education for private school vouchers.”
The situation is more optimistic for retired teachers hoping for an increase in their pension. Senate Bill 10, the latest version of which includes a one-time $5,000 payment for those who are at least 70, is being negotiated by House and Senate lawmakers in a conference committee.
How much money should state employees expect?
Across the board pay raises are expected for state employees, as they’ve been weaved into both the Senate and House’s versions of the budget, said Ann Bishop, executive director of the Texas Public Employees Association. Teachers wouldn’t qualify.
Both chambers propose a 5% raise or an at least $3,000 increase for all state employees in September. They’d get another 5% or $3,000 bump in September 2024. Bishop didn’t expect any changes that would preclude the raise for state employees before the session’s end. The proposal was in the compromise version of the budget released Thursday.
“We are thrilled that the Legislature has broken the cycle of just giving targeted pay raises and recognize that the state employees needed an across the board pay raise,” Bishop said. “Of course it doesn’t address all of the inflation that has happened since the last across the board pay raise, which was Sept. 1, 2014, but it is a recognition ... of the need of state employees.”
She noted that there may also be additional raises for specific agencies.
Judy Lugo, president of the Texas State Employees, said that number needs to be $10,000 across the board, citing a report from the state auditor’s office.
The report includes a summary of exit surveys from state employees who left state agency employment during fiscal year 2022. Better pay and benefits was the top reason for leaving. Of those who said how much their new job was paying, 44% said it was an additional $10,001 or more.
A $6,000 raise will make a difference, but with inflation, it won’t be as impactful as the higher amount, she said.
“Because everything’s going up,” Lugo said. “Food’s going up. Child care is going up. Rent’s going up.”
A bill that would have given state employees a $10,000 raise did not get a committee hearing.
State employees keep Texas running, Lugo said.
“Many of them are working under conditions that are really pretty bad, because there’s a high turnover rate in the state because the pay’s not good enough,” she said. “So the people that stay... usually are the ones that really believe in what they’re doing.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2023 at 12:01 PM.
