Salary Requirements for 2019-20

We are getting lots of questions related to the requirements for pay increases for next year. TEA has issued guidance that you can find on the HB 3 website here.

The language that finally passed does not require you to provide a specific dollar increase, but rather to base a pay increase on the revenue gain you received under HB 3. Specifically, you are required to use 30% of your FSP increase on compensation increases.

First, here is the language from HB 3 as it relates to compensation:

During any school year for which the maximum amount of the basic allotment provided under Subsection (a) or (b) is greater than the maximum amount provided for the preceding school year, a school district must use at least 30 percent of the amount, if the amount is greater than zero, that equals the product of the average daily attendance of the district multiplied by the amount of the difference between the district's funding under this chapter per student in average daily attendance for the current school year and the preceding school year to provide compensation increases to full-time district employees other than administrators as follows:

75 percent must be used to increase the compensation paid to classroom teachers, full-time librarians, full-time school counselors certified under Subchapter B, Chapter 21, and full-time school nurses, prioritizing differentiated compensation for classroom teachers with more than five years of experience; and

25 percent may be used as determined by the district to increase compensation paid to full-time district employees.

A few things to consider as you work through implementing this language.

1. Although the language references the basic allotment, the pay increase is not calculated based on the increase to the basic allotment but rather to all of the funding changes in Chapter 48 of the education code (this is the new chapter that includes what used to be Chapter 41 and 42). As you know, many more things changed than only the basic allotment. We read this to mean you would need to take all of these changes into account when determining the gain you received, and your pay increase would be based on 30% of that total gain. We think the reference to the basic allotment is in the statute to trigger compensation increases in future sessions when the basic allotment changes.
2. There is some confusion regarding how to calculate your increase. Although most people are starting with the financial impact models put out by TEA, the final calculation of your increase may differ from this amount for a few reasons. First, the runs put out during session compare your revenue to what your district would have had in the same year under current law. TEA has said you should be comparing the revenue you received in 2018-2019 to the revenue you anticipate receiving under HB 3 in 2019-2020. The calculation in each year should include M&O taxes, minus recapture, plus state aid. Your district will want to conduct a more detailed revenue projection using information you recently received from your appraisal district and your most recent student counts to make the 2019-2020 projection.
3. Although the Senate proposed language directing districts to provide a uniform increase on top of a local salary schedule, this language did not make it into the final bill. The language that made it into the bill provides much more flexibility. In fact, the language directs you to prioritize differentiated compensation for classroom teachers with more than five years of experience. The legislature specifically avoided telling you how much to pay each staff member. But we do presume this language means they intend for the increase for teachers with more than five years of experience to be higher than the increase you provide to other staff.
4. The language specifically references compensation, not salary. This is an important distinction as they specifically allow you to include benefits increases in this calculation. They include this language in subsection (d) of the bill: "in this section, "compensation" includes benefits such as insurance premiums".
5. Although lawmakers talked about a $4,000 salary increase, the amount of the required compensation increase is not likely to be $4,000 in any particular district. Lawmakers were talking about the amount of compensation increase teachers would receive on average. District to district impacts will vary from the average.
6. Finally, do not forget that you are still required to pay at least the state statutory minimum. And with the nearly 20% increase in the basic allotment, the minimum salary schedule will increase significantly. TEA has posted the new minimum salary schedule here. We had some rounding differences in our original post, and have updated below.