Officials deliver on pay raises for Texas teachers

Texas teachers statewide received pay raises, with some receiving more than $5,200, as a result of a school finance reform bill that was passed in 2019.

Teachers with more than five years’ experience received an average pay hike of more than $5,200, and those with less than the five received an average pay rise of over $3,800, reported KVUE.com.

The raises come as a result of the 2019 House Bill 3 (HB 3), a comprehensive school finance reform bill, which Gov. Greg Abbott said increased the annual funding for public education by $2.7 billion, KVUE reported.

But even with the pay raises, the Texas State Teachers Association said teacher pay in the state still falls short.

“We are glad that Texas teachers finally received long overdue pay raises from the Legislature in 2019,” Association President Ovidia Molina told KVUE. “The only reason it happened is because teachers and other school employees turned out in large numbers in the 2018 elections and unseated a dozen anti-education members from the Texas House and two from the state Senate and replaced them with education-friendly legislators.”

The pay increases are across the board for teachers and are outlined in a TEA report, which shows that some teachers with more than five years' experience even received a pay increase of $9,641.

"As lieutenant governor I promised teachers a pay raise and in 2019 and I made it my top priority to invest $4 billion to raise teacher pay and ensure that teaching is treated as a profession, not a job," said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, as reported by East Texas Review. "It was a tough fight but I delivered on my promise. Aside from a parent, nothing has more impact on the future success of a child than a teacher. Going forward these pay raises will also help Texas continue to recruit the best and the brightest teachers anywhere.” 

Besides a pay increase for teachers, putting them on a path to earning six figures, HB 3 added bonuses for school districts by adding career, college and military readiness to the bonus structure, CBS Local reported. It also funded full-day pre-K for students in poverty and made it a requirement for all elementary school principals and some teachers be trained on science-based reading instruction by next year.

“HB 3 makes crucial investments in the most important factor in driving student outcomes: our classroom teachers," said Senate Education Committee chairman Larry Taylor, East Texas Review reported. "HB 3 raises the salary of all teachers--incentivizing new teachers to the profession and retaining our veteran teachers. It is my hope that this concerted effort to increase teacher compensation will allow more veteran educators to remain in the classroom where they can continue to change lives and share their expertise with junior colleagues.”