Fort Worth Independent School District trustees have signed off on a pay plan that will put many teachers at six struggling campuses on six-figure base salaries for the 2026-27 school year, a dramatic bet that bigger paychecks can keep veteran educators in the classrooms that need them most.
Under the new ACE compensation plan, teachers in STAAR-tested courses and other core-subject roles will earn a $100,000 base salary. Elective and fine-arts teachers will start at $91,000, and student-support roles will start at $88,000. Elementary principals are slated to make $130,000 and middle-school principals $145,000. Assistant principals, counselors, librarians and licensed health professionals will receive $10,000 stipends on top of their existing pay, according to FWISD and the district’s ACE compensation schedule. The plan also requires ACE staff to work an extended year of 187 plus 25 ADSY days and makes many positions eligible for Teacher Incentive Allotment stipends.
The rollout covers six campuses: Western Hills, Clifford Davis, the consolidated Eastern Hills/West Handley, William James Middle, Morningside Middle and Wedgwood Middle. Teachers and principals at those schools will have to reapply to keep their jobs, as reported by the Fort Worth Report. Trustees backed the pay structure in their vote, with Trustee Camille Rodriguez casting the lone no vote and questioning whether the district can sustain six-figure salaries while facing a multimillion-dollar shortfall. The paper also reported that district leaders plan to redirect federal dollars toward ACE campuses and are weighing cuts elsewhere in administration to help cover the costs.
How the ACE Model Fund Raising
The Texas Education Agency’s Resource Campus, or ACE, designation can unlock additional, permanent per-pupil funding of roughly $900 to $1,000 per student for qualifying campuses, according to the agency. The model leans heavily on the Teacher Incentive Allotment, which sends state stipends to designated teachers and can help push some educators’ total compensation above six figures. For comparison, the average FWISD teacher salary is about $69,000, according to The Texas Tribune, a gap district leaders cited as part of their case for the higher pay packages…