House Bill 2 provides needed pay increases for educators at the start of the 2025-26 school year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 2, 2025

CONTACT: Nicole Hill, [email protected]

Educators welcome much needed pay raises but lament bottom line for schools

AUSTIN, Texas - Today, Texas AFT celebrates the enactment of House Bill 2, which partially went into effect on Sept. 1. Portions of the bill that were effective immediately have already resulted in across-the-board teacher pay raises, which are critical amidst a statewide educator shortage driven by inadequate pay and increasingly intense work environments.

In the weeks since HB 2 was signed into law, local AFT educators have organized to ask their districts for pay commensurate with their value in the classroom. Some districts have obliged. For example, in Dallas ISD, Alliance/AFT members successfully urged their district to authorize raises of at least $5,000 per year for an additional 2,700 educators with at least five years of teaching experience. Other districts have gone in the opposite direction, misusing HB 2 funds to shortchange educators in direct conflict with the intent of the Legislature. The Houston Federation of Teachers has sued Houston ISD and state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles for taking HB 2 dollars intended for across-the-board raises for all teachers and instead funneling them into their Teacher Incentive Allotment system, which provides raises for only a handful of educators.

"House Bill 2 was a huge help for educators, many of whom have gone years without meaningful increases to their pay despite rising cost-of-living and increasing workloads," said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT. "HB 2 is a needed life raft, but it won't stop public schools from being pulled underwater if the state does not return to Austin in 2027 and build on their investments. Our schools are not a box to be checked every few years. Lawmakers must invest in students' classrooms and pay educators what they're worth - every single legislative session."

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The Texas American Federation of Teachers represents 66,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, support personnel, and higher-education employees across the state. Texas AFT is affiliated with the 1.8 million-member American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.