AUSTIN — Child Protective Services caseworkers need an immediate $12,000 pay raise to stop a crippling exodus of employees, a group of key state senators asked to examine the issue said Monday.

But the senators were skeptical about an urgent request by state Family and Protective Services Commissioner Henry "Hank" Whitman to hire more than 800 new employees. Instead, they suggested that for now, at least, he get only 136.

Under a proposal by the Senate Finance Committee's Work Group on Child Protection, CPS could spend $75.3 million more, including federal funds, in the remaining nine months of the fiscal year. Whitman sought permission to spend $144.5 million more.

"Drastic measures" are needed to help CPS stop a hemorrhaging of workers and better perform the agency's crucial work, senators said in a letter to the committee's chairwoman, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound.

Last year, about one-third of CPS's investigative caseworkers quit, the three Republicans and two Democrats on the panel noted. In Dallas County, the turnover was a staggering 57 percent.

On Oct. 26, Nelson created the work group to sort through Whitman's requests after a tumultuous hearing at which several senators excoriated CPS leaders for the agency's failure to check up on tens of thousands of Texas children named in abuse and neglect allegations.

Last month, after analyzing an agency database tracking initial visits with kids mentioned in over 7,300 child maltreatment cases in the Houston area, The Dallas Morning News reported that through early September, half of children referred to Harris County's CPS investigators weren't being seen on time. In 1 of every 5 open cases, children weren't being seen at all.

With help from Department of Public Safety investigative agents, CPS has rushed to find children and families and has "drastically" shrunk the backlog, the Senate work group said.

"Ensuring the safety and protection of our state's most vulnerable children is one of the Texas Legislature's most important responsibilities," Georgetown GOP Sen. Charles Schwertner, the head of the work group, said in a prepared statement.

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.