Austin school board president makes Half True claim about local teacher pay
In early May, the president of Austin’s school board urged state lawmakers to put billions of additional dollars into school aid. The money should flow to teacher pay, Gina Hinojosa said, adding that teachers in the Austin district have lower salaries than peers elsewhere.
Specifically, Hinojosa told Austin American-Statesman reporter Kiah Collier: “Currently our teachers are the lowest paid of any urban, lowest paid of any surrounding school district and we believe that’s unacceptable.”
The lowest among whom? “Amongst all urban districts in the state and amongst surrounding Central Texas school districts,” Hinojosa said.
Not entirely, we found, ultimately rating her claim Half True.
Inexperienced and very experienced Austin district teachers were paid more in 2014-15 than peers in some or most nearby districts and if you count the district’s Social Security contributions, Austin teachers in general were compensated better on average than teachers in nearby districts. On the other hand, all Austin district teachers were paid less than counterparts in comparable urban districts across the state–even after taking into account those Social Security contributions.
