House adopts TCTA salary protection provision

Wednesday morning the House took up HB 1525, the HB 3 "clean-up bill” by Rep. Dan Huberty that primarily addresses technical issues from last session’s school finance reform bill. TCTA initiated an amendment to HB 1525 that would ensure protection of the salary increases that teachers received from the 2019 legislation.

The amendment provides that an employee who received a salary increase in 2019-20 would be entitled to at least that same salary for as long as the employee was employed with the same district.

Rep. Chris Turner of Dallas offered the amendment, which passed on a vote of 97-49. Huberty noted that it could have a significant impact to districts if there is an economic downturn in the future, but that “…we made a commitment and a promise to our teachers last year; I want to keep that.”

Turner commented "Over the past year, we have asked more from our educators than ever before....I can think of no better way to honor our teachers and staff than to ensure the pay raises the Texas House approved in 2019 stay in place for years to come."

HB 1525 passed on a second vote in the House Thursday, sending it to the Senate.