Texas’ teachers wonder if state’s extra cash will ever reach them. ‘It’s time.’

Debates over teacher pay are playing out in Mr. Oster’s 12th grade AP government class.

Jeffrey Oster, a 25-year teacher who works at V.R. Eaton High School in far north Fort Worth, likes to incorporate current events into his lessons. He wants to make sure they understand how the real world works. One of those real world issues is the teacher pay debate that has lasted a year in the Texas Legislature.

Since January 2023, lawmakers have failed to approve teacher pay increases, despite a $38.7 billion surplus and $4 billion already set aside in the state budget. The broad support for giving public educators more money has become entangled in larger debates over education funding and vouchers for private schools.

During that time, teachers have been left wondering as the cost of groceries soar and home affordability falls to a new low: Will they ever see the pay raise promised and supported by lawmakers across the political spectrum?

His students are frustrated, said Oster.

“A lot of the time, they don’t quite understand how something as simple as funding schools or pay raises can either be ignored or pushed to the side,” he said.

The governmental fights over school finance grab headlines. Less flashy are the second jobs teachers work to make ends meet, the hundreds of dollars they spend on school supplies and the carousel of educators leaving the industry burnt out.

Oster’s students have questions for him: “Why is this not a priority? Why is this not important?”

He doesn’t have an answer.

‘It’s time for teachers in Texas’

Oster has colleagues who work other jobs to help supplement salaries. Some drive for Uber, deliver food or work late hours for Amazon, getting only a few hours of sleep before school in the morning, he said.

Other teachers interviewed by the Star-Telegram said the same: It’s common for educators to work multiple jobs or have side hustles because their teaching salary alone isn’t enough.

Second grade teacher Christopher Adams is among them.

Adams has a second job at a department store. He knows of colleagues who tutor on the side or sell Mary Kay products.

Adams’ paycheck covers the essentials for his family, he said: Mortgage, car payments, insurance. The second job allows for the other costs life brings without stress: An extra night or two eating out, jujitsu, classroom supplies. (Adams estimates he spent $2,300 out of pocket on expenses for his class during the last school year — things like books, decorations, rewards and treats, and socks and shirts for students who needed them.)

After 17 years of teaching and with a master’s degree, Adams’ base salary is $67,000 a year (his employer did not allow him to name his Fort Worth area district). In those nearly two decades, he estimates his salary has gone up by about $6,000 from when he started teaching. He would need to earn $94,450 to have the same buying power as he did when he started, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A raise for teachers would be a sign of respect, he said.

“I think it’s time for teachers in Texas,” Adams said.

Julie Huff, an English teacher from Keller High School, takes on extra jobs through the district.

Earlier in December for instance, she judged interviews for Academic Decathlon on a Friday night, then woke up on Saturday morning to proctor the ACT. She teaches summer school, administers STAAR makeup tests during the summer, and works as an adjunct professor, teaching dual credit classes.

“I work almost every extra job through the district I can get my hands on for extra pay,” she said, in response to written questions.

‘It’s a big job’

Casey DiBenedetto, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Berkshire Elementary in the Northwest school district in far north Fort Worth, worries about teachers new to the profession and ultimately, the students. Education and housing costs are rising, she said.

Teacher pay is key to attracting teachers who are well-trained and passionate about education to come and stay in the district, she said. Between the workload and pay, the career isn’t always sustainable.

Statewide, the attrition rate for teachers hit a record high of 13.4% between the 2021 and 2022 school year, even as the number of teachers in public schools grew, according to the Texas Education Agency.

A report from the state’s Teacher Vacancy Task Force recommended increased compensation to help retain teachers.

“For them to support their families, they needed a job with a better future for them,” DiBenedetto said.

She’s seen a shift in the number of teachers available for hire in her 28 years. When DiBenedetto first started teaching, there were more teachers than there were positions to fill, she said.

“Teachers who were just knocking on the door wanting a job, and we had a … great ability to pick the top tier, and now there’s a big shortage and pay is a big part of that,” DiBenedetto said. “Our students are suffering, our schools are suffering because of that.”

For her personally, and other teachers who are nearing the end of their careers, higher pay would help with retirement. DiBenedetto could retire in the next couple of years, but at her salary, her pension alone wouldn’t be enough to maintain her lifestyle.

She would still need to substitute teach or find another way to supplement her income. A raise would make a huge difference, she said.

Quincy Luper, a special education teacher in the Keller school district, is in his second year teaching, though he previously worked as a paraprofessional for several years.

Teachers don’t get enough pay raises and, when they do, it’s often a 2% or 3% increase, and that is eaten by insurance increases, he said.

He’d like to see the state give teachers an annual pay raise that is based on performance and meets the demands of inflation.

“Teachers can’t live off of what they are being paid,” Luper said. “Not only can we not live off it, but the demand on us now is getting higher and higher.”

Teacher pay in Texas

The Grand Prairie school district is the highest-paying school district in the Metroplex for first-year teachers without master’s degrees. They’re paid $61,000. For teachers with 15 years experience, the Arlington school district pays the most: $67,900, according to the United Educators Association.

Nationwide, the average teacher salary for 2021-2022 was $66,745, according to the National Education Association, a professional organization for public educators. That’s nearly $8,000 more than the average in Texas, $58,887, which ranks 28th in the nation.

The state ranks 14th when it comes to starting teacher salaries. The nationwide average is $42,844 compared to $45,493 in Texas.

Texas ranks 38th in per student funding. Raising the amount of money districts get per student is one way to increase salaries.

School funding follows a complicated formula that would give even the best math teachers a headache, but at its most basic level, schools get $6,160 per student. The exact dollar amount is adjusted for students’ individual learning needs.

A portion that goes to paying teacher salaries. Thus, upping the allotment, or even the percent of how much of the allotment must go to payroll, is one way lawmakers can give teachers a raise.

Other ways include increasing the minimum amount districts must pay based on years of experience, a one-time bonus or bolstering the state’s Teacher Incentive Allotment, a state program aimed at retaining and attracting top talent.

All of the above have been proposed in different of bills in the Texas House and Senate.

None have made it to Gov. Greg Abbott.

What’s next?

Beginning in the regular session that started in January 2023, the issue of teacher pay became entwined with debates over education savings accounts, a voucher-like program that’s a priority for Abbott. Since then, lawmakers have been back for four special sessions, two of which included education funding on the agenda.

Abbott has said he won’t sign a teacher pay bill without also getting education savings accounts to his desk. Teacher groups have insisted they won’t take a pay bump if it means school vouchers. And the Texas House has signaled that vouchers are a non-starter.

That leaves state-paid teacher pay raises in limbo as questions linger over whether Abbott will call lawmakers back for another special session.

Abbott has said he’s committed to getting “school choice” to Texans in the Legislature and through the ballot box. He has put his support behind pro-education savings account candidates on the March primary ballot.

Districts in the meantime have been taking measures into their own hands to try and recruit and retain teachers. In the Fort Worth school district, that includes sign on bonuses, a minimum $60,000 starting salary and a 3% pay raise for most district employees. Without the state stepping in, the district is operating in a budget deficit.

The district has also been using the Teacher Incentive Allotment to help keep teachers in its schools. The program designates state dollars to participating districts. Designated teachers in the districts — those with exemplary performance — can in turn get higher salaries.

“It’s to not necessarily reward but acknowledge those teachers that are doing an exceptional job in the classroom and tying some funds to their performance,” said Woodrow Bailey, the district’s chief talent officer.

The allotment is favored by The Commit Partnership, a Dallas nonprofit focused on education issues.

“It’s not the only tool in the toolbox, but it’s a key lever to show that their jobs are really impactful, and they are: Teachers have the ability to shape the future of our state,” said Kate Greer, the group’s managing director of policy and state coalition.

But it wouldn’t extend to all teachers, leading to opposition from the Texas State Teachers Association. That’s where other proposals like increasing per-student funding and bonuses for educators come in.

“Texas needs to pay all its teachers significantly more before it starts singling out a handful of teachers for selective raises,” Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the association, said in a statement.

Tricia Cave, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, added that teachers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops for pay raises. Increasing the basic allotment would ensure educators get a raise, she said.

Whatever means of offering pay raises is picked, it needs to be fully funded, said Bailey.

“Just requiring a pay raise, that doesn’t benefit because then the district has to do the work to figure out how we’re going to do that,” Bailey said. “So whatever the initiative is, it needs to be fully funded, and that’s what we would definitely appreciate and support.”