TCTA weighs in on school funding, safety, TRS budget

TCTA provided testimony this week on school funding, school safety and the TRS budget as state lawmakers prepare for the 2025 legislative session.

During a Senate Education Committee hearing Wednesday, TCTA commented on the impact of COVID-19 on schools, recommending that lawmakers substantially increase the basic allotment to continue to address COVID learning losses and to better ensure student achievement across all demographics. 

TCTA's written testimony also called for significant investment in recruitment and retention of teachers and teacher salaries post-COVID. TCTA called on lawmakers to fund a meaningful salary increase and require districts to use the money for that purpose.

The Senate hearing also included a review of recent school safety legislation and recommendations for more initiatives in the coming legislative session.

TCTA urged lawmakers to invest in more behavioral interventionists and to strengthen school safety protocols and accountability, calling for legislation that would require administrators to inform teachers if their specific campus is threatened. TCTA also wants the state to hold administrators accountable if they do not take appropriate action when a teacher reports threatening student behavior. "Teachers need to be able to fully exercise their right to remove unruly, disruptive, threatening or violent students from the classroom to maintain order," TCTA said in testimony submitted to the Senate Education Committee.

TRS funding

TCTA also provided input on the TRS pension fund and the agency's 2026-27 budget requests in two separate hearings this week.

On Wednesday, TCTA urged the Legislative Budget Board to continue the legislature's four-year commitment to limit TRS-ActiveCare premium increases to no more than 10%. TCTA advocated for a more permanent solution to rising health care costs, including a considerable increase to the state's current $75 per person contribution to health insurance.

TCTA's Pamela McPeters also asked that the state continue to balance its responsibility to ensure the pension fund remains actuarially sound with the need to increase pension benefits and begin setting aside money to pre-fund benefit increases. 

McPeters repeated the call to pre-fund TRS retiree benefit increases on Thursday, in testimony presented to members of the House Committee on Pensions, Investments and Financial Services. 

Public school retirees continue to struggle with sustaining everyday costs such as housing, groceries, gas, medications, and other daily expenses due to recent economic pressures and modest retirement funds. Therefore, TCTA calls on the legislature to provide additional authority to the TRS Board of Trustees to periodically review and provide an increase to retirees’ annuities to reduce the effects of inflation within a framework based on the fund’s performance and that protects the long-term health of the fund.