Texas Senate panel advances $5,000 teacher pay raise proposal

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - The teacher pay raise proposal has passed a Senate committee and will still need to be debated on the Senate floor and then move onto the House, but it does currently have a lot of support. This would give all classroom teachers a $5,000 pay raise across the entire state of Texas.

Local teachers are supportive of the proposal and pushing for more funding if possibe.

"It's overdue. I think it should be more," said one local educator. "Teachers do a lot for the future in shaping our youth."

About 350,000 teachers statewide would benefit from the pay raise, with the total project cost totalling $1.8 billion per year. The possibility of additional raises is an ongoing conversation among lawmakers, but the $5,000 universal raise is where they wanted to start.

Support staff, bus drivers, and other staff members are not included in this proposal.