ATPE Statement on Lt. Gov. Patrick’s Legislative Priorities

Date Posted: 11/30/2022
ATPE Executive Director Shannon Holmes offers the following statement in response to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's Wednesday press conference outlining his priorities for allocating funds in the 2024-25 biennial budget:
"The lieutenant governor's priorities include 'concepts' that active and retired educators would welcome, including a teacher pay increase and either a cost-of-living adjustment or 13th check for retired teachers. We also appreciate the interest in providing student aid to future teachers and continuing school safety funding. At the 30,000-foot level, those sound good. But the devil is always in the details, and we urge lawmakers to listen to the feedback of public educators as they craft these plans to ensure they are designed to ultimately provide maximum benefit for Texas students.
"Similarly, we caution lawmakers as they examine legislation to raise the cap on the Rainy Day Fund. We need to strike a balance between overspending and sitting on tax dollars the state has collected from hard-working people. Texas school districts are struggling to recruit and retain educators. The budget surplus could go a long way toward attracting, retaining, and compensating educators, as well as ensuring our schools have ample resources to enact safety measures and upgrades."
About the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)
Founded in 1980, ATPE is the leading educators’ association in Texas with approximately 90,000 members statewide. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, and future, retired, and para-educators and works to create better opportunities for Texas’ five million public school students. | atpe.org
CONVERSATION
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Texas Legislature
01/23/2023
Senate announces committee assignments for 2023 legislative session
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) announced Senate committee assignments Monday for the 2023 legislative session.

01/20/2023
Teach the Vote’s Week in Review: Jan. 20, 2023
Texas state leaders were inaugurated this week and previewed their priorities for the legislative session now underway. Read more from the ATPE lobby team.

01/17/2023
During inaugural ceremony, top Texas leaders vow to pass private school voucher legislation in 2023
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick used the Jan. 17 event to announce he is “all in” with Gov. Greg Abbott on passing a voucher bill this session.
If COLA is capped at 100.00 dollars per month, 13th check at 2400.00 is the way to go!
Retired teachers need a COLA, not a thirteenth check. This was a major discussion at the last Lewisville TRTA meeting.