Bill increasing teacher pay gets buy-in from Texas Senate committee

AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — On Thursday, a bill aiming to increase teacher pay based on experience and performance sailed through a Texas Senate committee with minimal opposition.

Senate Bill 26 received unanimous support from the 11-member Senate Education K-16 Committee. The bill’s author, Senator Brandon Creighton, a Conroe Republican and chairman of the Senate Education K-16 Committee, told his fellow lawmakers that his bill would create a permanent allotment aimed at raising the pay of educators.

“Under this plan, teachers will receive guaranteed pay raises in their third and fifth years of teaching, ensuring that they don’t just start strong, but that they stay strong in their careers going forward,” Creighton said. “For our teachers in small and rural districts, we’re providing an additional parity increase with resources that will be used this session to close the pay gap that exists currently for those educators.”

SB 26 does not uniformly raise all teachers’ pay. Instead, teachers could receive yearly pay increases based on various factors, including the number of years they have been working, their performance and the number of students in the school district.

School districts with less than 5,000 students could receive $5,000 for every teacher who has a minimum of three to four years of teaching experience. That amount doubles for every teacher employed by the district who has been teaching for five or more years. Districts with more than 5,000 students would get $2,500 per student for teachers with at least three, but less than five years of experience, and $5,500 for teachers with more than five years of experience.

The bill would also expand on a program known as the Teacher Incentive Allotment. Created by the legislature, the allotment would allow school districts to reward teachers with pay raises based on their students’ growth.

Currently, the program is capped to allow 33% of teachers at an eligible school district to participate in the program. Under SB 26, the number of teachers who can participate would grow to 50%.

Aside from pay increases, SB 26 would also make prekindergarten free for the children of public school teachers in the district that the teacher is employed with.

Creighton addressed the bill’s lack of increased compensation for first-year teachers, saying that it is around 60 months that teachers begin to consider changing professions.

The Texas Education Agency’s Teacher Vacancy Task Force recommended in its final report released in 2023, that raising compensation for all teachers “is foundational to recruitment and retention efforts.” The task force also reported that since the allotment was created, it has allowed teachers to earn higher salaries faster, with some even earning up to a six-figure salary.

Of the people who attended the committee meeting and provided public testimony, many voiced their support for the, including education advocates and local school district officials across the state. However, some, like Jessica Ward, a school district trustee from Midlothian — a city just south of Dallas — interspersed their praise for what the legislation does with additional goals they would like to lawmakers adopt.

Ward said she supported enhancing the allotment, but added, “expanding TIA is not the same as ensuring sustainable, equitable raises for all educators. If it is the goal, to truly raise teacher pay across the board, we must prioritize an increase to the base allotment, doing so would ensure that every teacher benefits from higher salaries, not just those who meet TIA’s criteria.”

With the bill now approved by the committee, SB 26 will now go before the full senate for a vote, where it is expected to enjoy a fair degree of bipartisan support.

In his State of the State address earlier this month, Governor Greg Abbott made increasing teacher pay an emergency item for the legislature, allowing lawmakers to fast-track bills like SB 26. And despite the initial bipartisan support for that bill, not all education-related proposals are expected to proceed without a fight.

Of the more controversial proposals, such as Senate Bill 2 and House Bill 3, two proposals that seek to give Texas families taxpayer dollars to spend on private school tuition through education savings accounts. These measures are seen as the utmost priority by Republicans including Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Senate Bill 2 was voted out of the Senate on Feb. 5 and now awaits being sent to a committee in the House.

Creighton hinted to his colleagues Thursday that his committee may be the busiest of any other this session, with more proposals expected to be filed on addressing school safety and discipline.

Follow @KirkMcDanie1