MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Governor Greg Abbott pushed for fair pay for workers, and now teachers and school support staff can expect raises.
- House Bill 2 was passed into law on June 4th.
- The bill is broken into two allotments, one for teachers and the other for school workers.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“It’s like you’re drowning in paperwork and all the things to do, and someone just hands you like an uninflated preserver," Kelsey Kling, government and policy advisor for Texas American Federation of Teachers, said.
Kelsey Kling is a former teacher who now works for the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.
She said that before she took on her role as government relations and policy advisor, she spent years with students in the classroom as a teacher.
“You are struggling from day to day and you love what you’re doing, but it is an utterly exhaustive process," Kling said.
But change is just around the corner. House Bill 2 provides pay raises for teachers with three or more years of experience.
However, what some people may not know is. The bill also sets aside more money to pay for increased salaries for other workers, such as teachers with less than three years of experience, school nurses, counselors, and administrators.
Also included as part of House Bill 2 are billions for teacher raises, school initiatives, and more.
Amy Campbell, HR Director with the Texas Association of School Boards, said teachers will not have to wait too long to see raises.
“Teachers can expect to see it in the form of base salary pay increases rather than a stipend or one-time payment, which means they will release those adjustments in every single paycheck," said Amy Campbell, HR Director with the Texas Association of School Boards.
Under the bill, the Support Staff Retention Allotment provides a school system with an allotment of $45 for each student in adjusted average attendance.
Kling said she's happy to see some improvements for more school workers.
“Most of our support staff are not earning the wages that they should be. We have custodians in certain school districts who are working below poverty wages, which is completely unacceptable. When we think of schoo,l we think of the teacher interacting with the student in the classroom, but you mentioned there are a thousand unseen hands," Campbell said.
