Support for Teachers: Increasing the Basic Allotment – The show so far…

By Ashley Thornton | February 22, 2025 |

(In 2022 Governor Abbott commissioned a Teacher Vacancy Task Force to make recommendations for improving teacher recruitment and retention in Texas. The members of the task force included teachers and school system leaders from school districts all across Texas, including one teacher (Pam Fischer) from Waco. You can see the Task Force Report here: Teacher Vacancy Task Force Final Report — February 2023. We are using this report as an outline for tracking the actions of the 89^th Legislature in regard to support for teachers. – ABT)

Teacher Vacancy Task Force Theme 1: Increase Overall Compensation and Support Strategic Compensation Strategies

Recommendation 1.A. Fund a significant increase in overall teacher salaries by increasing the basic allotment and other state funding mechanisms, while increasing the requirement that school systems invest new funding in teacher salaries.

Background:

Currently, any time a school district receives additional funding due to an increase in the basic allotment, 30% of that increase must be used to provide “compensation increases to full-time district employees other than administrators.” (Sec. 48.051)

Of that 30%, 75% has to go to compensation increases for classroom teachers, full-time librarians, full-time school counselors, and full-time school nurses, with a priority for compensation for classroom teachers with more than five years of experience. The rest of the 30% can be used to increase compensation for other full-time district employees, except for administrators.

The Teacher Vacancy Taskforce recommends a good way to increase teacher salaries would be to increase the Basic Allotment, and to increase the requirement that new funding be invested in teacher salaries.

For a short video explaining the Basic Allotment, click here. The Basic Allotment was set at $6,160 in 2019 and has not been increased since. Based the Inflation Calculator from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that allotment would need to be $7,774 to reflect the same buying power in 2025 as it did in 2019.

The Show So Far …. 2.22.25

The House:

On 2.20.25 Brad Buckley, the Chair of the House Committee on Public Education, filed HB 2, a massive bill addressing public education and public school finance. This bill recommends the Basic Allotment be increased from the current level of $6,160 to $6,380, an increase of $220.

HB 2 also recommends that the percentage that must be set aside for “compensation increases to full-time district employees other than administrators” be increased for 30% to 40%.

For reference, in 2023-2024 Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for Waco ISD was 10,158, the current Basic Allotment amount of $6,160 resulted in a Regular Program Allotment for Waco ISD of $62,571,309. If the Basic Allotment had been $6,380, the Regular Program Allotment would have been $64,808,040. An increase of $2,236,731. 40% of that would be $894,692. Waco ISD has about 990 classroom teachers, so if all of the money were spent on teachers (none spent on counselors, librarians, nurses or other staff) a very, very, very rough estimate would be that this would result in a little more than $900 per teacher.

The house bill also recommends adopting a pay for performance plan similar to the one the Senate is considering in SB 26 as discussed below.

The Senate:

The Senate Committee on K-16 education is considering at least two bills that address teacher pay and the basic allotment.

SB 233 – Senator Nathan Johnson, filed SB 233 which recommends basing school funding formulas on enrollment instead of Average Daily Attendance (ADA) and increasing the Basic Allotment from $6,160 to $7,750.

SB 26 – Senator Brandon Creighton, the chair of the Senate Committee on Education K-16, filed SB 26. This bill recommends repealing the part of the education code that connects teacher pay to the Basic Allotment. It instead proposes pay increases for teachers based on retention and teacher performance as follows:

Teacher Retention, annual allotments as follows:

For districts with 5,000 or fewer students enrolled:

For teachers with 3-5 years of experience – $5,000 per teacher
For teachers with 5 or more years of experience – $10,000 per teacher

For districts with more than 5,000 enrolled

For teachers with 3-5 years of experience – $2,500 per teacher
For teachers with 5 or more years of experience – $5,500 per teacher

Pay for Performance, annual allotments as follows:

Master teacher – $12,000 – $36,000
Exemplary teacher – $9,000 – $25,000
Recognized teacher – $5,000 – $15,000
Acknowledged/National Board Certified teacher – $3,000 – $9,000

Note: This bill does not provide for pay increases for other professionals such as counselors, librarians, nurses or other staff.

For Reference, in Waco ISD a typical base pay for a teacher with 10 years of experience in the district might be around $60,000. That teacher could potentially receive an additional $5,500 a year from the Teacher Retention Allotment, and anywhere from $3,000 more a year to $36,000 more a year from the Teacher Incentive Allotment, depending on how they are ranked. So, that teacher’s pay could go from $60,000 a year to anywhere from $68,500 a year to $101,500 a year. (Here’s a link to a more detailed look at SB 26: Bills I’m Watching: SB 26 – Teacher Compensation – Dead Armadillo Politics)