With full state coffers and bipartisan support, Texas teachers are hopeful they’ll get a raise this year

Laura Herrera’s salary has barely gone up in her 20 years of teaching — about $700 in all.

The San Antonio-area teacher takes home about $3,700 a month. About $1,400 goes to rent, and the rest is sometimes barely enough to pay the bills and stretch through the month. There have been times when she hasn’t been able to afford buying insulin to treat her diabetes.

The raises she’s received — most of them in the last seven years — barely accounted for inflation.