House Public Education hears public testimony on HB 2 (teacher pay, TIA, funding and more)

The House Public Education Committee met March 6 to hear public testimony on HB 2, a broad school finance bill. 

On Tuesday, the committee heard invited testimony from TCTA and other education stakeholders, but Thursday's hearing was open to anyone who wished to comment. Given the wide-ranging nature of the bill, the hearing attracted significant public interest and a large number of stakeholders appeared to offer their feedback.

One of the flagship provisions of the bill is a $220 increase in the basic allotment, along with an increase in the percentage of new funding that must be directed to compensation for nonadministrative employees. 

While those testifying expressed appreciation for the first basic allotment increase since 2019, many said that with inflation, a much larger increase is needed to catch up. Some cited that $1,300 would be enough to close the gap created by inflation and legislative inaction. 

Others agreed with TCTA that using the formula introduced in 2019 to increase teacher pay does not always result in the statutorily required amount reaching teachers and that a direct, across-the-board pay raise is a more effective means of doing so.

Special education advocates brought attention to the "special education offset," a feature of current law that reduces the amount of state funding a child earns a district based on how much time they spend receiving special education services outside of a general education setting. 

Special education students receive additional allotments from both the state and federal governments, so cutting down the amount they receive of the basic allotment if they receive funding outside of their general education classroom was seen as a fair way to account for that time. But with districts facing significant special education budget shortfalls, advocates see this as a great time to remove the offset to infuse new special education funding into district coffers. 

To help with special education costs, the bill contains a provision that would provide $1,000 for each initial special education evaluation, but a handful of witnesses said that the cost of diagnosis runs much higher and will continue to increase in price, so a more significant allotment may be necessary.

Several teachers urged committee members to retain a provision that would allow National Board certified teachers to continue receiving Teacher Incentive Allotment designations (TIA). While this current-law provision is retained in HB 2, it was removed in SB 26, the Senate's teacher pay raise bill. 

Currently, many school districts that have not implemented TIA designation systems encourage teachers to seek National Board certification because it automatically earns the teacher a TIA bonus and provides a route to TIA designation for those who do not teach subjects covered under local TIA systems. Committee members expressed support for keeping the provision as part of TIA going forward.

TCTA will continue our involvement in further developing HB 2 and will keep you up to date with the latest on the bill.