COMPARING TEACHER SALARIES With approximately 70,000 students at Conroe ISD, it’s the only district in Montgomery County that will receive a $2,000 increase instead of $6,000 if Senate Bill 9 is passed.
BREAKING DOWN Teacher salaries as laid out in Senate Bill 9 would increase by $2,000 for every Texas teacher, with smaller districts receiving an additional $4,000. Senate Bill 9
Raises to starting salaries if Senate Bill 9 passes Starting teacher salaries for the 2022-23 school year
BILL HIGHLIGHTS Other components of SB 9:
COMPENSATION Teacher pay raises by population
Conroe ISD
$62,000
Additional funds are provided for teachers with a master’s degree. A teacher residency program is included. The bill provides early teachers with technical assistance.
Districts with 20,000 students or less would receive a $6,000 raise. Districts with more than 20,000 would receive a $2,000 raise. Enrollment numbers are based on 2023-24 school year.
$65,000
New Caney ISD
$65,000
Splendora ISD
$62,200
Montgomery ISD
SOURCES: TEXAS LEGISLATURE, BRANDON CREIGHTON, TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT
$62,500
Magnolia ISD
state. Null said the district’s per-stu- dent allotment is actually $5,790. Rice said the district spends an average of $8,546 per student. On the other hand, SB 8 would give parents $8,000 per student to enroll in private school as the bill was originally written. In addition to potentially lowering that amount to $7,500, the House revised the bill May 9 to include an additional $2,000 to $3,000 per student with a disability or educational disadvantage. Null said he believes the discrepancy between private and public schools is unfair. “Why should they receive more funding than we do?” he said. “The state should fully fund us on enroll- ment or give us $8,000 per child instead of the private schools.” However, citing the district’s rapid growth, Null said he doesn’t antic- ipate enrollment numbers would decrease significantly if the bill passes. As of a November Population Survey and Analysts report, 4.8% of students residing in CISD in 2022-23 attended private schools. PASA pro- jected in November that CISD could grow from about 70,000 to 120,000 students by 2032.
“People want to be in this school district,” Null said. “We will remain an attractive option for families.” Paying teachers Null said SB 9 is also a concern for the district, because it would cause CISD—the county’s largest district— to have the second-lowest starting teacher salaries. As the only school district in Montgomery County with more than 20,000 students, CISD teachers would receive $4,000 less than surrounding districts. For the 2022-23 school year, teacher salaries at CISD started at $60,000— the highest in the county. If SB 9 is passed, the starting salary would increase to $62,000 while Splendora and New Caney school districts would reach $65,000. Willis ISD would be the lowest in the county at $61,000. “It creates an unfair situation,” Null said. “I’m not advocating for our neighboring districts to only make $2,000. I’m advocating for every teacher in the state to receive $6,000.” Greg Smith, executive director of the Fast Growth School Coalition, a business league that advocates for the investment in the state’s
$61,000
Willis ISD
Starting teacher salary
SOURCES: CONROE, NEW CANEY, SPLENDORA, MONTGOMERY, MAGNOLIA & WILLIS ISDS/COMMUNITY IMPACT
fastest growing school districts, said he believes legislators are headed in the right direction but need to make some changes to SB 9. “If [the state] infused more dollars into the basic formula funding, then districts like Conroe ISD could give their teachers a better lift,” Smith said. Creighton said SB 9 is meant to lift up teachers that have been histori- cally underpaid, which he said leaves out CISD. “Conroe [ISD] is going to be fine,” he said. “It’s the districts surrounding them that have struggled for years to keep up. This parity provision is for all the other smaller districts that have not been able to keep up.” Path forward According to Texas.gov, May 23 is the last day for the House to consider
Senate bills on second reading. Both SB 8 and 9 were read the first time in the House as of press time May 12. Creighton said he is optimistic the two bills will pass in the House despite contention. Meanwhile, despite stating in an April 4 budget workshop that the dis- trict could not provide a salary increase without a budget deficit if SB 9 passes, Null said April 26 the district antici- pates being able to provide a raise and have a balanced budget at the end of the legislative session. The district discussed a $671.65 million preliminary 2023-24 budget April 4. “At this point, we’ve created our preliminary budget,” Null said. “Now we are in a holding pattern until all the budgetary items from the Legislature get passed.”
5/12/23, 8:41 AM
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