Will teachers get a $5,000 or $1,850 pay raise? That’s what Texas lawmakers must decide
Listen up, Texas lawmakers: Teachers are watching.
They know the Legislature has approved two plans to fund public schools — and each one includes a different proposal to give school employees raises.
“It’s great that the state is discussing teacher pay, but teachers know it takes an entire team,” said Steven Poole, executive director of the United Educators Association.
Poole said his association, which represents teachers and school district employees in Tarrant County, supports the House plan that gives raises to all school employees.
Norman Quigley, regional president of the Fort Worth Education Association, said his group also supports the House version. But Quigley said he is wary of the plan’s future.
“What I don’t want to see is that they put this raise out here for two years and then leave it up to school districts to maintain it,” he added, noting that he worries any school district that can’t maintain staff with those salary levels may later end up trimming staff.
At stake:
▪ The Senate version includes a $5,000 pay raise for teachers and librarians.
▪ The House version includes an average raise of at least $1,850 for all school employees — teachers, librarians, custodial workers, nurses and more — except for school administrators.
The measure known as House Bill 3 is the public school financing proposal. It boosts the minimum per student funding amount, pays for pre-kindergarten for low-income students and reduces the amount many schools pay into the so-called Robin Hood funding plan.
So the bill now heads to a conference committee, where members from each chamber will work on a compromise before the legislative session ends May 27.
One Tarrant County member, state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, serves on the committee.
She has long said it was important to her to give teachers a raise.
“It has been a decade since teachers received a small raise from the state,” she said earlier this session. “It’s been two decades since they received a meaningful raise. It’s time to give our teachers — all of our teachers — a raise.”
