A Texas Senate committee gave unanimous approval to across-the-board pay raises for public school teachers, sending the nill to the full Senate for a

SB 26 expands the Teacher Inventive Allotment (TIA) a merit-based pay program that gives bonuses to top-performing teachers based on academic growth. Under SB 26, 50% of teachers in a district can participate in the teacher incentive program, compared to the current cap of 33%.

Conroe, comes as Texas educators have left the teaching profession in droves and the state has increased its reliance on instructors who lack formal classroom training. Gov. Greg Abbott declared teacher pay an “emergency item” earlier this month,