Texas Teachers

A patriotic gnome statue stands tall on a teacher’s desk at Fort Worth’s Key School and Training Center. Instead of students, teachers are seated at desks shouting adjectives that describe the gnome. Together, they will construct a descriptive paragraph.

Fort Worth resident Lisa Rodriguez has longed to become a community outreach specialist so she can help families and children who only speak Spanish navigate the school year.

Attending a drag show at Hamburger Mary's, and later posting about it on social media, led to Kristi Maris losing her teaching job of nearly 20 years, she wrote on Facebook.

Spending on back-to-school supplies is predicted to decline this year, for the first time since 2014. With inflation top of mind, parents and teachers are looking for ways to save money.

Lawmakers this year didn’t approve extra money to help schools pay for raises despite having an unprecedented $32 billion surplus — even after Gov. Greg Abbott commissioned a task force last year to improve teacher pay and retention.

Despite the Senate moving its plan forward Wednesday, the measure seems destined for deadlock. A Texas House panel also passed its proposal to cut property taxes — which is significantly different from the Senate’s.

State lawmakers vowed to do right by teachers during the 88th legislative session, as tens of thousands of educators have left the field in recent years. But the bills that still have a chance of passing only include modest raises that may not keep teachers in the classroom.

Education leaders across Texas say the state's schools are underfunded by $7 billion.

Under House Bill 1, the chamber’s spending plan, $5 billion would be allocated to increase funding for public and charter schools. That would raise the basic allotment by $50, to $6,210.

The proposal recommends spending billions on programs including property tax cuts, teacher pay raises, mental health services and border security. It leaves out requests for pay raises for retired state employees and funding for rent relief and childcare programs.

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