Legislators want to raise teacher pay. North Texas educators say it’s overdue

From KERA News:

It might seem obvious that every Texas public school teacher wants a raise.

Like many teachers, Andrew Kirk picks up extra gigs for extra money.

“I write test items for the district,” said Kirk. “But I know a lot of teachers who drive for Uber or Doordash. Like, that’s really very common in my experience.”

Kirk – a geography teacher at Sunset High School in Dallas – has been in the field for 11 years after teaching with AmeriCorps hooked him for good. Now he has two kids of his own and recently went home shopping in Dallas.

“I was looking at the median sale price for homes in Dallas, and it’s nearly $400,000 now,” he said. “But our salaries a few years ago, they’ve not in any way kept up with the rise in rents or in that case, sale prices for homes.”

So many of his colleagues are thinking of leaving because of pay, he calls it crisis.

New pieces of legislation before state lawmakers would try correcting that.

Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton’s Senate Bill 26 would raise teacher salaries based on years worked — boosting Kirk’s salary by $5,500 — and sets aside $750 million for merit pay raises, which only some Texas teachers would benefit from.

The biggest set pay boost in SB26 would benefit teachers in small districts, like Shannon Moses, in Palmer ISD, a little more than hour south of Dallas.

With 18 years of experience, Moses would get a $10,000 pay hike. 

“I do think we definitely need pay increases,” she said. “We haven’t had significant pay increases in years. Where other jobs get, like, cost-of-living adjustments, we don’t get those. We get a step pay because you’re paid based on your years of experience.”

Moses’ colleague, Chrissie Davenport, has taught at Palmer ISD for 6 years, and earns about $50,000. Yes, she said, teachers aren’t paid enough. And even though she loves what she does, good teachers do way more than people realize — and deserve a raise.

“I’m not just a teacher teaching a subject,” Davenport said. “I’m teaching, you know, how to talk to your fellow students, how to discuss things in a group that doesn’t sound like a Facebook message board. You know, how to have normal conversations with each other.”

Davenport also spends her own money for classroom necessities, even though Palmer ISD, with about 1,350 students, gives her money for such expenses.

“I don’t think there’s a teacher who doesn’t buy things for their classroom,” she said. “Just providing things like … paper, pens, just making sure you have enough supplies.”

Davenport would welcome a raise, but isn’t convinced SB26 will pass. She gives it a 50-50 chance.

“I feel like I’ve seen this before.” she said. “It is kind of like a thing they talk about, but it doesn’t really ever come to fruition.”

Davenport’s remembering the last legislative session in 2023, when pay hikes were included as part of an all-encompassing education funding bill that ultimately failed.

Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde does expect the bill to pass, along with Education Savings Accounts. The governor’s top priority, voucher-like ESAs would send public tax dollars to private schools.

Many individual districts, including Dallas and Palmer, have given their own teachers raises, even while some had to make budget cuts.

Elizalde’s in line with Abbott’s desire to boost teacher pay across the state but worries lawmakers may be forgetting something.

“Teachers are a vital component of what we do, but they’re also not the only group of members on our team,” Elizalde said. “That necessitates then that we absolutely have to have comparable increases obviously for other supporting cast.”

Cast members like nurses and other district employees who aren’t teachers. Elizalde says pay for these employees — as well as teachers — is built into the basic allotment, which hasn’t changed for school districts since 2019. A bill filed last week, authored by Republican Rep. Brad Buckley, would raise the state’s basic allotment from $6,160 to $6,380.

Raise that allotment, Elizalde said, and all players get a raise.

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