Texas Senate Passes Teacher Bonus, Benefit Expansion Bill

The Texas Senate on Wednesday afternoon unanimously passed a bill that would establish and expand bonuses and benefits for public schoolteachers.

Senate Bill 26, written by Senate Education Committee Chair Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would expand an existing performance bonus program for Texas teachers called the Teacher Incentive Allotment that rewards the state’s top teachers with extra pay if their district participates in the state program. The bill would allow more teachers to qualify for those bonuses, and increase the stipends going to teachers who already qualify.

It also establishes a new program, the Teacher Retention Allotment, that gives bonuses to teachers based on experience to try to help address persistent teacher vacancies in Texas schools. In smaller districts, those bonuses would range from $5,000 for teachers with three to five years of experience, up to $10,000 for teachers with five or more years. Larger school districts would get smaller bonuses, about half that size.

Children of public schoolteachers would be eligible for tuition-free preschool under the bill, a service that the state guarantees for homeless children and children of active duty military members, among others.

Finally, SB 26 also adds a provision that allows the state to offer liability insurance for teachers to give them stronger protections when they act in self-defense in dangerous situations involving students, Creighton told the Senate Education Committee last week.

Creighton estimates that the bill will cost the state about $4.9 billion to implement.

School districts could use the bonus money to replace local dollars being spent on teacher salaries, which could help shore up pay for support staff. But public education advocates have argued that without an increase to the state’s base allocation — the number it uses to calculate funding per student for districts — there’s no guarantee that librarians, janitors or school bus drivers will see more money to help make up for years of elevated inflation.