PATRICK WANTS LOTTERY FUNDS USED FOR TEACHER BONUSES
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants to spend $700 million annually in Texas lottery revenue on bonuses for veteran teachers.
The leader of the Texas Senate said Thursday that the lottery raises about $1 billion yearly for education. A proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution that he'll support during the upcoming special legislative session would force school districts to use most of that on pay bumps for teachers with at least six years of experience and retirees with 20 or more years' experience.
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to increase teacher pay by $1,000 annually during the special session, but there's no extra state budget funding.
Patrick also dismissed as a "Ponzi scheme" a stalled plan seeking $1.6 billion extra for schools championed by fellow Republican and Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.
A new 22-year-old teacher who goes to work for the state minimum of $28,080 must teach 30 years before being eligible for retirement. After 30 years of teaching, the state maximum salary is only $45,510 a year. Retirement income for that teacher comes to $30,355 annually. Not much more than they earned 30 years ago!
But, the Texas Legislature, like State Senator Kolkhorst, which determines what teachers are paid, has a much, much better retirement program. It is called ERS. A Texas legislator who serves four terms (eight years) gets a pension at age 60. Or after serving six terms, or 12 years, the pension starts at age 50. And the dollars are huge. Those who serve for 30 years get a check for $105, 386 every year thereafter. No wonder so many folks want to run for office!
The legislators were embarrassed to vote themselves a raise. So they made a change. Their salaries are now linked to state judges. When the legislature votes for state judges to get a raise, the legislators get a raise!
Insurance costs are going to eat up most of that “raise”.
The teachers with over twenty years experience will finally get a raise. The state salary schedule stops at twenty years of experience. So teachers that started at age 22, after twenty years they do not get a raise, except in cases like this or if their district adds more steps (like Burton ISD). At the age of 42, they have reached the top of the pay scale. They have to work TWENTY THREE more years to be eligible to retire with a fully vested retirement benefit.
Teachers pay into TRS. They are considered state employees, except when it comes to retirement funding and benefits. State employees, like State Senator Kolkhorst, pay into ERS. They get to retire much earlier, with a better funded retirement account and cheaper and less deductibles on health insurance.
I do give the guy kudos for being creative on finding a STATE revenue to pay for the increase this year. After that, it will shift back to local taxes paying for the increase.
Bonus?? Hardly. A living wage is more like it. Teacher pay vs expectations for teachers and the amount of work that we do, we should all make more than what the state says our base salary should be. $1,000 is just a drop in the bucket especially for those teachers who are sitting at the base pay the state requires. It’s time to fund teachers for their countless hours of hard work.
Unfortunately, the majority of the millennial generation does not want to pay the dues like their predecessors. Not only in this profession but everywhere. Shorter hours, more pay, more vacation time. Don’t ask for it until you have put the years in and you gave earned it. The tricky part is not fooling yourself to believe what is not true.
Or perhaps it is a sellers’ market and the employees are letting their employers know what they will and will not tolerate in their job. When there aren’t any jobs to be had, sure, you’ll stoop to pick cotton in the staggering heat for 70 hours/wk for pennies, but when jobs are plentiful, maybe you get to thinking you’d like one with air conditioning. Know what I mean? Or did the Greatest Generation just go along with whatever conditions for whatever pay at their jobs?