State funds provide increases for teachers
This month, the Texas Legislature approved and Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 2, a record $8.5 billion public education funding package. Teachers are among the beneficiaries of HB2, which provides nearly $4 billion in funding for compensation statewide via the Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) and expansion of the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA). Notably, the bill also includes flexibility in applying salary increases for projected TIA-enhanced districts like Dallas ISD.
As a result of this legislation, Dallas ISD is expected to receive approximately $34 million in additional funding for salary increases to district teachers in the 2025-2026 school year. This bill also will generate additional funding for teachers based on their TIA designations, but the entirety of the new monies will not be realized by the district until the 2026-2027 school year.
Using HB2 funds, Dallas ISD has adjusted the TEI salary schedule to ensure the district continues to lead the Dallas-Fort Worth market in teacher compensation, said Robert Abel, chief of Human Capital Management.
“We project the average teacher salary in Dallas ISD to exceed $75,000 this year—an average 6% salary increase from 2024-2025,” he said.
Overall, this new compensation structure is expected to include approximately $40 million in teacher salary increases, well exceeding the anticipated $34 million in new funding for teacher salaries by approximately $6 million.
2025-2026 TEI Compensation Levels
Returning TEI-eligible teachers will receive an increase via the greatest of four methods:
- Advancement of effectiveness level (example: Progressing II to Proficient I)
- Change to the compensation value associated with the effectiveness level
- Flat-rate increase:
- $4,000 for Proficient I, II, III
- $4,500 for Exemplary I, II
- $5,000 for Master
- Board-approved increase 2% of compensation value
Expanded 2025-2026 new hire compensation
To ensure that we can continue to source highly qualified teaching candidates, the district has also modified the 2025-2026 teacher new hire schedule. Novice teachers hired into the district in 2025-2026 will enter with a salary of $65,000.
Information about compensation for other employee groups may be accessed via the 2025-2026 Compensation Resource Book.
