The Texas Senate is scheduled to vote on Monday, May 25, on the main school-funding bill of the 2009 session, but the Senate committee version of the bill eliminates the guaranteed pay raise for each teacher that the House approved. Let your senator know you want a real pay raise for each teacher, not just so-called "salary" money your district could use as "merit pay." Teachers need a real pay raise, not a fake one!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

The Senate committee substitute for HB 3646, the main school-finance bill of the session, would eliminate a guaranteed pay raise for each teacher that the House has already approved. I ask you to support an amendment to Committee Substitute HB 3646 to make sure that each and every teacher will receive a real pay raise.

The committee substitute for HB 3646 merely would send money to school districts for them to allocate among teachers as they choose. The substitute does not provide an across-the-board pay raise. In fact, all of the money allotted for teacher pay could be used for "merit pay," with no assured amount for anyone.

Teachers need a real, state-guaranteed pay raise, passed through to each teacher, as in the House-passed bill. Average pay for Texas teachers is already $6,000 below the national average and 20 percent below pay for comparable jobs here in Texas. Some 50,000 Texas classrooms lack an appropriately certified teacher for the subject taught. Without a state-funded pay raise for each teacher at least as good as the one passed by the House--a minimum of $800, and a higher minimum in districts that get the biggest increases in state aid---teachers' base pay in Texas will not even keep up with inflation. If that happens, it will become even harder to recruit and retain the qualified teachers our schoolchildren need to meet state achievement standards.

When the Senate version of HB 3646 comes up for consideration by the full Senate, I urge you to amend the bill to ensure a real, state-guaranteed pay raise for each teacher as in the House-passed bill.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 24, 2009