The panel made some changes to Whitman's pay raise plan. For instance, the senators proposed giving supervisors and former peace officers known as "special investigators" a 20 percent raise, not Whitman's $12,000 increment. Currently, supervisors make an average of nearly $52,000, so their raises would be shy of $11,000 under the work group's plan. Salaries for special investigators average $49,000, so their average raises would be under $10,000.

Senators suggested 15 percent boosts for program directors. That means those employees, whose salaries average about $54,600, would get raises averaging $8,200 instead of $12,000 under Whitman's plan.



The senators proposed a 10 percent bump for higher-ranking program administrators, whom Whitman had excluded. Current salary figures for these administrators were not available.

And the senators whittled Whitman's $12,000 raises for other kinds of workers and supervisors — in programs related to foster care and adoption — to 10 percent. That would mean raises of $4,000 to $4,500 for caseworkers and $5,200 for supervisors.

Schwertner's work group defended giving raises to program administrators, program directors and supervisors. Long-serving caseworkers, especially given how they often work overtime, can have higher take-home pay than their bosses, the senators noted.



The Texas State Employees Union and other groups, though, are likely to criticize the work group's plan for providing no raises to human services technicians and clerical staff members who help caseworkers arrange interviews and transport children.

The work group urged that rookie caseworkers get a $4,000 raise upon being hired, $4,000 more after six months and the final $4,000 after completion of one year at the agency.

Senators also recommended that Nelson press state GOP leaders to approve the immediate hiring of only 136 new employees — or 16 percent of Whitman's request.

Pay raises should be given time to work, the senators argued. In the Dallas, Houston and Austin regions, CPS has 439 caseworkers who are still in training and can't be assigned full caseloads. If the raises cause more of them to stay, that will ease some of the pressure, they said.

Next month, CPS will offer a revamped training course for new supervisors, the senators said. An earlier overhaul of caseworkers' initial training, also urged by consultant John Stephen of New Hampshire, is getting good initial reviews, they said.

On Oct. 20, Whitman asked Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative leaders for permission to immediately hire 450 caseworkers in three "stages of service" — investigating tips, preventing child removals and tracking foster kids. He also sought approval to add 100 special investigators and 279 supervisors and other support staff.

The work group, though, urged that CPS be allowed only to hire 50 special investigators, 50 investigative caseworkers and 36 support employees.

Abbott spokesman John Wittman said the governor "fully supports" all of Whitman's requests for pay raises and additional employees.

"We will continue working with the House and Senate to immediately secure additional resources," he said.