Texas teacher salary: the state minimum salary schedule, HB 2’s retention allotment and special education pay by area

1. The state minimum salary schedule (2025-26)

Texas law sets a floor for teacher pay in its school districts. Education Code §21.402 says “a school district must pay each classroom teacher, full-time librarian, full-time school counselor certified under Subchapter B, or full-time school nurse not less than the minimum monthly salary”, set by the person’s level of experience and, in the statute’s words, “other factors, as determined by commissioner rule”. TEA’s Minimum Salary Schedules page says: “This page contains information about the state minimum salary schedule for classroom teachers, full-time librarians, full-time counselors, and full-time registered nurses.” It adds: “In no instance may a school district pay less than the state base salary listed for that individual's years of experience as determined by Section 153.1021 of the Texas Administrative Code, Commissioner’s Rules on Creditable Years of Service.”

TEA’s 2025-26 schedule, with the 2024-25 annual figures beside it:

TEA heads its annual column “Annual Salary (10 month contract)”, and its page says that “an educator employed under a 10-month contract must provide a minimum of 187 days of service, unless the furlough program, as stated under Section 21.4021, is implemented.” The 2025-26 schedule is the first change since 2019-20: TEA’s schedules for 2019-20 through 2024-25 are the same, starting at $33,660 (our comparison of TEA’s tables).

Who the schedule covers. The commissioner’s rule (19 TAC §153.1022) says “A classroom teacher is an educator who teaches an average of at least four hours per day in an academic or career and technology instructional setting” and who “holds the relevant certificate issued by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC)”. It also says: “Full-time means contracted employment for at least ten months (187 days) for 100% of the school day”.

Who it does not bind. Two answers in TEA’s HB 3 FAQ, a page dated January 8, 2021 (before HB 2 (2025)), narrow who must follow it; we found no newer TEA statement on either point:

• Charter schools: “Charter schools are not subject to the provisions of the Minimum Salary Schedule under TEC 21.402”.
• District of Innovation plans: asked whether districts must pay up to the minimum salary schedule (MSS), TEA answers: “Yes, unless exempted from MSS via a DOI plan. House Bill 3 did not change or relax district requirement to comply with the MSS.” (DOI means a District of Innovation.) We have not checked which districts’ plans do this.

Districts may pay more. The rule defines the extra: “A local supplement is any amount of pay above the state minimum salary schedule for duties that are part of a teacher’s classroom instructional assignment.” So the schedule is a floor, not what any district actually pays; this guide does not list district salary schedules.

Years of experience. Under §21.403, “A teacher, librarian, school counselor, or nurse shall advance one step on the minimum salary schedule under Section 21.402 for each year of experience as a teacher, librarian, school counselor, or nurse until step 20 is reached.” A district credits each year “without regard to whether the years are consecutive”. Which experience counts is set by commissioner rule (19 TAC §153.1021):

• One year at most per contract year: “All service shall be based on the contractual year (July 1-June 30). No more than one year of experience may be acquired in any one contractual year.” From 1998-99 on, a year of credit needs at least 90 days at 100% of the school day, or 180 days at 50% to 99% of the day, which the rule says “may be equivalent to 90 full-time equivalent days (percent of day employed multiplied by number of days employed)” (TEA’s figure for the rule, and §153.1021(f)). From 1990-91 on, part-day service counts only if “documentation is presented to the employing district which verifies that the employment was for not less than three and one-half hours each day.”
• Where the experience was earned: the rule lists 18 kinds of employer whose professional service counts, among them Texas public schools (charter schools included), public schools in other U.S. states, colleges and the military. Texas private school service counts from 1989-90 only “if the school was accredited by the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission”. Substitute teaching counts only under the rule’s conditions, including a valid teaching certificate at the time.
• Special education at a charter school: “For salary increment purposes, educators are not required to be certified unless they are serving in special education or bilingual education”, so a charter school year in special education counts toward salary steps only if the educator was certified (our reading of §153.1021(h)).

TEA’s copy of this rule is its March 2018 update. We found no change to these two rule sections in the Texas Register’s rule indexes from January 1, 2025 to June 26, 2026, but we have not read the Secretary of State’s own copy.

2026-27. TEA had posted no 2026-27 schedule when we checked on October 20, 2026, so this guide gives no 2026-27 figures. From the 2026-27 school year, HB 2 (2025) adds a condition for new teachers: §21.402(f-1) says “A school district must pay to a classroom teacher with zero years of experience who holds a certificate under Section 21.0412(a)(1), (2), or (3) a minimum salary that is greater” than the minimum for a zero-year teacher without one. In the statute’s terms, those are standard, enhanced standard and intern with preservice experience certificates. We found no TEA guidance yet on how this will appear on the schedule.

2. HB 2 (2025): the Teacher Retention Allotment

HB 2 (2025), a public education and school finance law, created the Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) in Education Code §48.158. From 2025-26, a school district receives an allotment for each eligible classroom teacher, set by the district’s enrollment and the teacher’s years of teaching experience:

A district that once received the amounts for 5,000 or fewer students keeps them in later years (§48.158(b-1)). The amounts in the table are what a district receives; they are not a raise for every teacher. The conditions, in the law’s and TEA’s words:

• Classroom teachers only. TEA’s teacher compensation FAQ (September 4, 2025) says: “The TRA only applies to individuals who meet the statutory definition of classroom teacher.” Education Code §5.001 defines a classroom teacher as an educator employed by a school district who teaches an average of at least four hours each day in an academic or career and technology setting; aides and full-time administrators are not included. For the TRA, §48.158(a) also counts people who do not need a certificate and people employed by an entity under contract with a school district who otherwise meet that definition. TEA’s FAQ: “No, teachers do not need to be certified in order to be eligible for the teacher retention allotment.”
• Years of experience. “Classroom teachers are eligible after they have completed their 3rd year of experience as a classroom teacher”, TEA’s FAQ says; the higher amount starts after the 5th year.
• How it is paid. For 2025-26, a district must use the money to increase each eligible classroom teacher’s salary “over the salary the teacher received or would have received” in 2024-25 by at least the allotment amount (§48.158(c)). TEA: “The teacher retention allotment must be paid as part of the teacher's regular salary utilizing 080 base salary, Payroll Activity.” After that, the law says “for the 2026-2027 and each subsequent school year, a school district shall use money received under Subsection (b) to maintain the salary increases” (§48.158(d)).
• A step may rise by less. TEA’s FAQ: “However, the increase for a specific year or step may be less than the total TRA amount allocated.” The increase is measured against each teacher’s own 2024-25 salary, so, as we read it, a district’s new schedule is not simply its old schedule plus these amounts.
• Performance-based pay districts. In 2025-26, a district applying to be designated as an enhanced teacher incentive allotment system could instead increase classroom teachers’ salaries based on performance (§48.158(c)(2)). A district already designated may use the money “to provide salaries to classroom teachers in accordance with the district’s compensation plan” (§48.158(e); section 3).
• Charter schools. TEA’s letter of June 12, 2025: “All requirements of TRA and SSRA outlined in this TAA apply to both districts and open-enrollment charter schools.”
• Teachers with fewer than 3 years. TEA’s FAQ: “Teachers with less experience may receive a pay increase from the Support Staff Retention Allotment if the local school system chooses to allocate SSRA funds in that way.”

3. The Teacher Incentive Allotment (background)

The Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) is an older program whose amounts HB 2 (2025) changed. Under Education Code §21.3521, a school district or open-enrollment charter school “may designate a classroom teacher as a master, exemplary, recognized, or acknowledged teacher for a five-year period”, based on appraisal results. Only districts with a local designation system can make these designations. TEA’s letter of September 25, 2025 says: “Acknowledged represents the top 50% of Texas teachers, Recognized the top 33%, Exemplary the top 20%, and Master the top 5%.” It adds: “Designation rates within a given campus or school system may exceed or fall short of the statewide percentages.”

For each designated teacher, the district receives a base allotment, which rises with a high needs and rural factor up to a maximum. TEA’s letter: “Increased allotments under the revised TIA funding formula will take effect in the 2026–2027 school year.” The amounts from 2026-27:

• Where the money goes. Each year a district must certify (§48.112(i)) that “at least 90 percent of each allotment” it received went to the compensation of teachers at the campus where the designated teacher works. It is not a fixed payment to the designated teacher.
• The new Acknowledged level. TEA: “These performance standards for the Acknowledged designation level will be finalized through Commissioner rulemaking.”
• National Board certified teachers. A National Board certified teacher may be designated nationally board certified, subject to a State Board for Educator Certification review: “Not later than December 31, 2026, the State Board for Educator Certification shall conduct an initial review” (§21.3523(c)). The statute adds: “If the board fails to reauthorize the designation by that date, the authorization for the designation is revoked.” A designation already made stays valid for its five years (§21.3521(c-1)).
• Enhanced TIA districts. The commissioner designates them each year, and the criteria require a performance-based pay plan for all classroom teachers that “does not include across-the-board salary increases for classroom teachers except for periodic changes to the district’s or school’s salary schedule to adjust for significant inflation” (§21.3521(d-1)). For these districts, the commissioner “shall increase the amount to which the district is entitled under this section by multiplying that amount by 1.1” (§48.112(g-1)), and the district must certify that the increase “was used to meet the criteria to maintain a designation as an enhanced teacher incentive allotment system” (§48.112(i)).

4. Average teacher salary in Texas (TEA, 2024-25)

TEA’s Pocket Edition of Texas public school statistics gives the statewide average base salary of teachers: $63,749 in 2024-25, across 369,732 teacher full-time equivalents (FTEs), up from $62,463 in 2023-24 (the earlier edition).

• These cover all teachers, not only special education teachers.
• TEA labels the column Avg. Base Salary and does not define it on the page, so we do not know whether it includes local supplements or stipends.
• TEA’s counts are full-time equivalents, not headcounts.
• Both years come before the Teacher Retention Allotment began in 2025-26.

TEA’s Staff FTE Counts and Salary Reports page says: “This page provides FTE counts and average base salaries for the different personnel types of the specified year.” It offers 2025-26 through a report form that we did not use, so this guide has no 2025-26 average. An average is not the state minimum in section 1, which is a floor set by years of experience.

5. Special education teacher pay by area (BLS, May 2025)

BLS estimates pay by occupation for each metro area and for 6 nonmetropolitan areas, the parts of Texas outside its metro areas. The table gives all 25 metro areas and 6 nonmetropolitan areas for which BLS publishes special education teacher figures, lowest first, with the area names as BLS writes them.

How we calculated it. For each area, we took BLS’s published mean annual wages for special education teachers in kindergarten and elementary school (25-2052), middle school (25-2057) and secondary school (25-2058) and weighted each by its published job count. Where BLS did not publish a job count or a mean for one of the three in an area, we left it out. These are BLS’s May 2025 estimates (area workbook); BLS publishes these occupations as annual wages only. BLS also publishes preschool (25-2051) and “all other” (25-2059) special education teachers in some areas; we left them out, and adding them would change some areas’ figures and the order of the table (our arithmetic).

Read these with care. They are survey estimates for all employers, private schools included, as of May 2025. They are not adjusted for the cost of living, and they are not what any one school district pays. Small areas rest on few jobs: Victoria, TX’s figure is for elementary school only, and Odessa, TX’s is one middle school figure covering 30 jobs. Texarkana, TX-AR includes workers in Arkansas. BLS publishes no special education teacher figures for the Eagle Pass area. We have not checked which counties BLS puts in each area. For Texas as a whole, see section 6.

6. Special education teacher pay statewide (BLS, May 2025)

BLS estimates pay by occupation in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Its May 2025 estimates for Texas’s special education teachers:

BLS counts 56,760 jobs in kindergarten and elementary, 12,580 in middle school and 10,200 in secondary school special education: 79,540 in the three K-12 special-education teacher occupations. Their job-weighted average wage is $63,956 (our calculation). The median annual wages are $62,330 (kindergarten and elementary), $63,360 (middle school) and $64,830 (secondary school). BLS also counts 2,010 preschool and 880 “all other” special education teacher jobs, 82,430 in all five occupations.

BLS publishes only annual wages for these teacher occupations. They are survey estimates for all employers in Texas, private schools included, as of May 2025, not 2026 pay. They measure a different group from TEA’s average base salary in section 4, which covers all teachers, not only special education teachers.