When Texas lawmakers returned with a nearly $33 billion budget surplus, public education advocates were optimistic they might make a major investment in salaries. Now, with less than two weeks left, teachers are concerned more people will leave the field.
from the Charles Butt Foundation. That same survey found 81% of teachers said their pay was “unfair.”the average teacher salary in Texas was $58,887 during the 2021-2022 school year. The national average was $66,745. The NEA expects that a gap of more than $7,700 between teacher pay in Texas and the U.S. as a whole will persist during the current school year.
,” in February. One of the group’s primary recommendations was that lawmakers should significantly raise teacher salaries “by increasing the basic allotment and other state funding mechanisms.” The basic allotment, which is $6,160, is the minimum amount Texas must spend per student. School districts are required to use 30% of any increase to the basic allotment to raise pay for certain employees such as teachers, librarians and counselors.
would give classroom teachers $2,000 in districts with more than 20,000 students. Teachers in districts with fewer than 20,000 students would get $6,000. The legislation also includes funding for teacher mentoring, gives teachers access to free prekindergarten if their district offers it and seeks to protect teachers from being loaded up with extra responsibilities.
“Our students are going to miss out on having amazing educators that want to stay in the profession that they just can't afford to. And our Legislature is continuing to say they don't care."“That is a very wealthy district that is going to actually get their teacher salaries subsidized by the state at a much higher level than, say, Dallas ISD,” he said.
Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said it is frustrating that during a session where the state has a historic budget surplus, more is not being done to raise the pay of and retain teachers as well as other school staff.Molina said that lawmakers’ decision to hold off on a substantial investment in teacher pay is shortsighted and will ultimately hurt students.
“I talked to a teacher who said that having cancer was less stressful than trying to pay for the cancer treatment on her teacher's salary,” she said.“Our teachers are telling us with both their words and with their actions that this is not a sustainable situation for them,” she said. “They are leaving because they cannot afford this career.”Jacques, in Killeen ISD, said some teachers have been waiting to see what the Texas Legislature was going to do this year.
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