HB 2 Is Complicated. Your Payroll Doesn’t Have to Be. 

If you’re in a Texas school district, you already know: House Bill 2 (HB 2) is no small thing. Between new funding rules, tight deadlines, and high expectations, district teams across HR, payroll, and finance have a lot to manage. 

HB 2 is a sweeping school finance law passed in July 2025. It brings over $8.5 billion in funding to public education, including more than $4 billion for pay raises. That’s good news for educators and staff, but it requires careful coordination behind the scenes. 

Let’s break down what HB 2 requires, why it’s complex, and how Frontline is already helping Texas districts implement the changes with clarity, accuracy, and confidence. 

What HB 2 Requires and Why It’s a Big Lift 

New mandates, new pressure. HB 2 brings four big new requirements for school districts: the Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA), Support Staff Retention Allotment (SSRA), an expanded Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), and a Teacher Certification Incentive Allotment (TCIA) program. Each is meant to address important goals — raising pay to retain educators, rewarding high performers, and getting more teachers certified — but each comes with its own compliance puzzle. 

• Mandatory pay raises for teachers: Starting in the 2025–26 school year, districts must give permanent pay bumps to classroom teachers with 3+ years of experience. For larger districts (over 5,000 students), that’s at least $2,500 extra for teachers with 3–4 years and $5,000 for those with 5+ years. Smaller districts must provide $4,000 and $8,000 increases, respectively. These raises are not optional and must be maintained as part of base salary. 
• Raises for other staff, too: The SSRA provides roughly $45 per student to raise pay for non-administrative support staff, including aides, clerical workers, custodians, nurses, bus drivers, and more. Districts must use the funds for ongoing salary increases but have flexibility in how they distribute them. 
• More teachers eligible for incentive pay: HB 2 expands the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) by adding a new “Acknowledged” designation and increasing maximum payouts. More teachers can now qualify for performance-based pay, which requires systems to manage designations, evaluations, and correct fund distribution. 
• New incentives for certification: HB 2 encourages teacher certification through the Teacher Certification Incentive Allotment (TCIA), waiving exam fees for bilingual and special education certifications and providing bonuses to newly certified teachers. This adds new responsibilities for HR in tracking, informing, and verifying eligibility and reimbursements. 

These funding streams are valuable, but come with real challenges: eligibility verification, pay scale updates, staff communication, and long-term budget forecasting. 

What It Means for Your Team 

For school district HR, payroll, and finance leaders in Texas, HB 2 likely meant: 

• Verifying eligibility across multiple roles, service records, and full-/part-time status 
• Recalculating salaries and revising contracts after board-approved pay structures were already in place 
• Allocating support staff raises fairly, while staying within SSRA funding limits 
• Revising budget forecasts to reflect recurring costs, not just one-time adjustments 
• Ensuring accurate PEIMS reporting, since TEA will use this data to calculate funding and verify compliance 
• Tracking teacher certification progress to identify eligibility for TCIA incentives and manage internal “grow-your-own” efforts 
• Preparing for audits or state-level reviews of how allotments were distributed and sustained 

And all of this began shortly after HB 2 was signed into law, leaving most districts to revise their plans quickly, just before or during the new school year. 

Where Frontline Makes the Difference 

Frontline’s tools are built for K–12 finance, payroll, and HR teams, and are designed to handle complex, fast-moving requirements like HB 2. 

Tools that Help You Keep Up 

Frontline ERP: 

• Run eligibility reports instantly: Pull teacher years-of-experience data and role classifications to see who qualifies for TRA and SSRA, no manual lookup needed. 
• Configure raises at scale: Apply the appropriate raise types — stipends as part of base pay, scale adjustments, or grade changes — across your workforce. 
• Identify HB 2 raises (when using stipends): Report HB 2-related raises, helping to ensure visibility and accuracy in financial records.  
• Stay compliant with state regulations: Use Frontline ERP to make it easier to prove compliance and avoid costly mistakes.  

Frontline Analytics: 

• Model future impacts: Project how permanent raises will affect your budget over time, test scenarios based on enrollment or funding trends, and prepare long-term plans with confidence. 

Frontline Central: 

• Track teacher certification in real time: Monitor progress toward certification, identify candidates for incentives, and streamline compliance with TCIA requirements. 

Employee Evaluation Management 

• Manage performance-based designations: Support evaluation workflows tied to TIA requirements by tracking teacher designations and syncing evaluation outcomes with compensation plans. 

Moving Forward with Confidence 

HB 2 represents a significant investment in public education and a meaningful opportunity to reward and retain staff. But implementation takes more than spreadsheets. It takes systems built to handle policy, payroll, and planning with accuracy and transparency.  

Frontline is already helping Texas districts simplify HB 2 implementation, reduce manual work, and stay focused on what matters most: supporting educators and students. 

If you’re working through HB 2 and want tools to make the process smoother, we’re here to help. Let’s talk about how you can stay organized, stay compliant, and move forward with confidence.