Presidents of unions representing workers at San Antonio and South San ISDs are hoping lawmakers consider increasing pay for nurses, custodial staff and bus drivers.
SAN ANTONIO — Boosting teacher pay remains one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities this legislative session, top of passing school vouchers. The latest bill to make its way out of committee aims to provide annual raises, offer teachers free pre-k for teachers’ children and expand the performance-based Teacher Incentive Allotment program.
Under Senate Bill 26, educators in school districts with 5,000 students or less would receive a $5,000 raise. Teachers with five plus years of experience would earn a $10,000 raise.
In bigger school districts, teachers possessing at least three years on the job are looking at earning a $2,500 raise while those with five or more years of experience would get a bump of $5,500.
“SB 26 is a positive development in that it is moving forward a desperately needed conversation around teacher pay,” said Alejandra Lopez, president of the San Antonio Alliance, the union representing teachers and support staff working at SAISD.
While Lopez welcomes the increases, she believes the bill is missing out on rewarding a prominent group of workers.
“Our bus drivers, our custodians, our food service workers, and so the fact that they’re left out of this bill is disappointing and inappropriate because our school system takes all of the school workers to make it run,” Lopez said.
Tom Cummins, who heads the South San Antonio AFT, is not impressed by the legislation as it stands right now.
“Our concern first is the base pay of teachers. It was our expectation that there would be an across the board raise for teachers at every level of the salary schedule,” Cummins said.
Jody Whiting previously worked as a science teacher at SAISD. For the past few months, he’s been subbing in at Boerne ISD. While Whiting is weighing the pros and cons of his future in the education world, he hopes lawmakers are able to assist support staff in addition to teachers.
“Straight up teacher pay, I would really like to see an increase across the board for that first year. Nurses are hugely important, I hope they’re really being talked about too.”