SB 26 - Teacher pay increases at expense of taxpayers

Senate Bill 26 (SB 26) significantly increases education spending, adding $4.35 billion over two years to the Foundation School Program. The bill expands the Teacher Incentive Allotment—raising allotments to as much as $36,000 per master teacher—and introduces a retention allotment of $2,500 to $10,000 per teacher based on experience and district size, while also funding new initiatives like a grant program for teacher designations, state-subsidized liability insurance, and prekindergarten for teachers’ children. These provisions, alongside hiring 11 additional state employees, grow government involvement and spending, straining taxpayers. Instead, the Legislature should focus their efforts on eliminating waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer funds in public schools and TEA. SB 26 grows government and spends billions of new taxpayer dollars at a time of financial strain on ordinary Texans, who are being buried by property taxes. For this reason, TFR opposes SB 26.