Yesterday, House Education Chair state Rep. Brad Buckley filed House Bill 1 for the 88th Fourth Special Session. HB 1 continues Texas’ significant investments in education with a focus on:
- recruiting, retaining, and rewarding the best teachers in Texas; and
- empowering parents to determine the best education for their child.
In addition to empowering Texas parents with a universal ESA, HB 1:
- increases public school funding by over $7 billion, including increases to teacher pay, on top of the $6.3 billion in new money already passed this year;
- improves working conditions by offering teachers the option to take paid leave separately from FMLA due to pregnancy or the birth or adoption of a child;
- offers outstanding teachers a pathway to a six-figure salary, esp. teachers in low-income and rural communities, by offering an additional $3,000 – $42,000 on top of their current salary;
- offers all Texas teachers a bonus of $4,000 for full-time teachers and $2,000 for part-time teachers in this 2023-24 school year, and sustains the increase by increasing the Basic Allotment;
- creates a residency program for aspiring new teachers to learn under an experienced teacher and offers $42,000 for each new teacher who receives a residency.
To summarize the additional new money for public schools in HB 1, we are publishing the Excel file linked here. In the file are three summary Tables:
- Table 1 shows increased funding for any selected House District.
- Table 2 shows increased funding for any selected ISD.
- Table 3 shows public school spending per student in the 2021-22 school year using TEA data.
House Bill 1 has been scheduled for a committee meeting tomorrow: Thursday, Nov. 9 at 9 a.m. and, if necessary, the committee will continue on Friday Nov. 10 at 9 a.m.