Senate Committee On Finance Votes On Teacher Salary Increase

The Texas Senate Committee on Finance this week amended and approved Senate Bill 3, a bill that would give full-time classroom teachers a $5,000 raise beginning next year.

The bill was amended to extend the raise to charter school teachers, and to cover the state’s additional pension costs associated with the raise. School districts would not be able to lower a teacher’s salary in future years to supplant the raise.

State funding for the “classroom teacher salary allotment” would be continuous unless future lawmakers write it out of existence.

Lawmakers also approved a change that would cover requisite increases in teacher pension costs due to the pay raises, bringing the cost of the bill from $3.7 billion up to about $3.9 billion.

School support staff, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, librarians and counselors are not included in additional funding for raises.

This story originally published by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.