Investing in Students, Teachers Drives Raise Your Hand Texas’ 89th Legislative Session Policy Priorities

From Capitol to Classroom: Texans Deserve World-Class Public Education, and Teachers Need Competitive Wages and Compensation

Anne Lasseigne Tiedt, APR
atiedt@ryht.org, c: (512) 784-3805

As voters head to the polls in November and the Texas Legislature returns to Austin in January 2025, Raise Your Hand Texas is calling on lawmakers to prioritize and strengthen the state’s investment in Texas’ 5.5 million public school students and teachers.

“Raise Your Hand Texas believes in creating world-class schools that fuel a brighter future for all Texans,” said Dr. Libby Cohen, executive director of Raise Your Hand Texas. “To achieve that goal, our public school teachers need a competitive wage. And our school districts need to be able to keep up with the sharply increased costs of basic goods like paper, food service, and fuel. None of this can happen without a substantial increase to the basic allotment, which the legislature has not increased since 2019.”

According to Cohen, state lawmakers can build a stronger, more economically competitive Texas with a focus on several critical investments, including:

• Increasing teacher compensation and benefits packages by at least $15,000;
• Implementing an automatic annual adjustment to the per-student funding for public schools that addresses inflation and the growing needs of our students; and,
• Investing in our youngest Texans with full funding for full-day pre-kindergarten.

In addition to paying teachers a competitive wage, Raise Your Hand Texas calls on the Texas Legislature to address the rise in hiring uncertified teachers, which can negatively impact teacher retention and student academic performance. Across the state, as many as 33% of recently hired teachers in the 2023-24 school year were uncertified.

These investments are part of the just-released Raise Your Hand Texas’ 2025 Policy Priorities, which emphasize addressing school funding, teacher workforce, assessments and accountability, and pre-K.

According to the latest Census data, Texas ranks second in total population and is the third fastest-growing population in the nation. However, Texas ranks in the bottom 10 in per-student spending for education, approximately $4,000 per student behind the national average. Funding has remained stagnant since 2019.

From the Capitol to the classroom, Raise Your Hand Texas' nonpartisan advocacy work over the next year stresses the need for the state to prioritize public dollars for public schools and invest in students and teachers.

“Texas is poised to have an unprecedented amount of revenue to address the many needs of our Texas students, teachers, families, workforce, and local communities,” said Cohen. “We look forward to working with lawmakers and leaders in our local communities to build consensus around smart, necessary, and transformative investments in Texas’ local public schools.”

2025 Raise Your Hand Texas Policy Priorities

School Funding

• Increase state funding for public school students and education programs, with a particular focus on raising teacher pay
• Implement an automatic annual adjustment to the Basic Allotment – the foundation of per-student funding – to address inflation and the growing needs of our schools
• Reinvest state savings due to local school district property value growth back into public schools

Teacher Workforce

• Support teacher retention through increased compensation and benefits packages of at least $15,000
• Invest in teacher recruitment strategies, including scholarships for aspiring teachers
• Strengthen teacher development by raising the standards for all education preparation pathways and providing meaningful professional development opportunities

Pre-K

• Directly fund pre-K with full-day Average Daily Attendance (ADA) versus half-day ADA
• Expand the Early Education Allotment to include eligible pre-K students (currently kindergarten through third grade)
• Increase access to pre-K by raising the income eligibility cap
• Extend pre-K eligibility to the children of public school educators

Assessment and Accountability

• Expand the scope of Texas’ A-F accountability ratings system to include factors beyond STAAR test scores
• Limit STAAR test scores to 50% of any domain or the overall score for districts and schools in the state’s accountability ratings system
• Remove all high-stakes testing consequences for high school students
• Design and implement a formative assessment that helps inform instruction throughout the school year without adding additional testing time and pressure

About Raise Your Hand Texas

In 2006, Charles Butt and a group of Texas business and community leaders founded Raise Your Hand Texas with the belief that all Texas children should have equal access to high-quality education. Raise Your Hand Texas supports public policy solutions that invest in our students, encourage innovation and autonomy, and improve college, military, and workforce readiness. For more information, visit RaiseYourHandTexas.org.

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