Amid nationwide budget constraints, one issue remains a point of contention between superintendents and their staff: compensation.
Enrollment declines fueled by declining birth rates have left leaders with little financial flexibility as they establish their budgets for the 2026-27 school year. With 34 states projected to lose students between 2025 and 2031, superintendents expect to cut tutoring, summer learning, after-school programs and other key programs, according to a September survey from McKinsey & Company.
Regardless, retaining teachers remains leaders’ top spending priority, which is reflected in media reports.
In Texas’ Corpus Christi ISD, teachers will receive a base $680 pay increase with additional equity adjustments for teachers with 5 to 8, 10 to 24 or 41 to 45 years of service, according to kiiitv. It marks the first compensation adjustment since the 2021-22 school year.
East Baton Rouge Parish School System Superintendent Lamont Cole intends to raise teacher pay to remain competitive with other Louisiana districts, WAFB reports. His decision follows an executive order signed earlier this month by Gov. Jeff Landry requiring school boards to raise teacher pay without additional state funding.
Under the district’s proposal, new teachers would make $56,000, up from $50,000. More than 3,000 teachers would receive an average $9,2000 raise aimed at retention and simplifying the salary schedule, according to the news outlet.
“For far too long, 28 years since I’ve been in the school system, our salary schedule has been extremely complicated,” Cole said during a public hearing earlier this month.
Districts still face challenges
Meanwhile, teachers at Florida’s Broward County Public Schools won’t receive raises this year, and they’ll have to pay for certain health insurance plans, according to the Miami Herald. Board members are blaming a lack of state funding, combined with the district’s roughly $80 million budget shortfall.
The district has already taken several steps to cut spending, including closing six schools and cutting 1,000 positions, with plans to cut 2,000 more over the next two years, according to the news outlet.
“It’s unfortunate that we find ourselves in the place that we’re in,” board member Debra Hixon said during a board meeting earlier this month.
Similar budget constraints in Texas’ Arlington ISD are forcing leaders to bolster employee benefits without including pay increases for teachers, according to Fort Worth Report. Board trustee David Wilbanks said that raising pay would have been controversial, considering the district’s current budget deficit.
Still, the district led all North Texas school districts for starting teacher salaries last school year, according to the news outlet.
“It would be viewed much more negatively if we gave a raise, and then had to turn around and lay off more people,” Wilbanks said during a board meeting. “I think keeping people secure, knowing they have slightly less chance of that happening, is more important than feeling the need to give a raise, given the enviable position we find ourselves in at the top of the market.”
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