A last-ditch effort to bind the controversial issue of school choice to teacher pay increases was a disgraceful moment in the Texas Legislature.
Teachers need raises, and legislation giving them that pay boost should have sailed through the regular session, in which lawmakers were flush with a historic budget surplus.
Instead, it was capsized last weekend when Republican senators led by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, decided in the winding days of the session to attach funding for a voucherlike program to a broad public school financing proposal that included the pay increases.
“Holding teacher pay raises hostage to give public money to private schools is just wrong,” Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde told us this week. Her dismay echoes that of the Texas Association of School Administrators and other public school advocates who are still fuming at the political stunt.
They’re right. Legislators, who will most certainly be debating school choice funding again in a special session, must decouple teacher pay from this contentious issue.
Texas teachers have it rough right now and deserve better than this. Still reeling from the disruptions and learning setbacks from the pandemic, they are working to close performance gaps among students. They’ve also been hit hard with inflation. The average salary of Texas teachers was less than $58,000, according to 2021 state data..
Particularly troubling is that teachers are being asked to do much more as districts across the state grapple with staff shortages. And let’s not forget that they also must deal with the threat of school shootings and the accompanying safety concerns for students and themselves.
House Bill 100, authored by Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, would have increased the per-student allocation each school district receives from the state by $50 — from $6,160 to $6,210 — as part of a multibillion-dollar school funding package. Public school officials statewide wanted a higher boost in the allotment, but the House bill allowed for at least some teacher pay increase. The bill was approved and sent to the Senate.
But after Creighton and friends amended the bill to include a school choice provision allowing for an $8,000 per-student payment to be spent on private schools, the House predictably balked, and the whole measure died. Creighton defended the decision to shackle teacher pay to school choice, saying it was “extremely appropriate to connect all of these subjects together.”
No, it isn’t. It is unfair to teachers and families. The Legislature must bifurcate these issues and allow school choice to be debated separately on its merits and not under duress in a hostage situation involving teacher pay.
