Here is the problem with the 5,000 teacher raise and why it is the wrong way to tackle this problem. First, it is only for the next two years. The legislature has done this twice in the past (10 and 20 years ago) where they funded a raise then put it on districts to fund it after those two years. Many districts (aisd) would be in no financial position to carry it forward after that. There could be enough pressure to keep funding it, but I don’t trust legislators or Texas voters enough to bet on it.
The other problem is that it doesn’t address the other major funding issues in education. We have many employees that make less than a living wage and this will do nothing for them. It also makes weird dynamics such as more than half of my teachers would make more than me (AP) even though I work more days, have more certifications, etc. I don’t really care, they deserve the money, but it will be hard to get people to take on extra days responsibilities, and pressure and they get a pay cut for their trouble. The same problem would exist for counselors, diagnosticians, etc.
I understand the concerns that districts will become top heavy with the money and not really pass it along to teachers. They just need to give the districts the money and make them set aside a certain portion that must go to teachers.