One way to show we value teachers is to pay them fairly. It’s time to make the teacher pay raise a reality.
Currently, the teacher pay bill (HB 530) is in conference. This means both the House and the Senate have announced conferees, and they are now working together to come up with a compromise bill.
Last week, the House announced Education Chairman Richard Bennett, Education Vice-Chairman Kent McCarty, and Representative Kevin Felsher as conferees. This week, the Senate announced Education Chairman Dennis Debar, Senator Hob Bryan, and Appropriations Chairman Senator Briggs Hopson as conferees.
These individuals will work together to produce a conference report recommending a compromise bill for the Senate and House to vote on. This must be done by March 28. However, we are hopeful that we will have a compromise bill before the deadline.
What do we think will be on the table during the negotiations?
We mentioned some potential sticking points in our recent post, What’s going on with teacher pay? These sticking points include the raise timeline, the size of step raises, starting salary, and the timeline for national board eligibility for some professionals.
To support the dialogue between the House and the Senate in the conference committee, we developed two compromise proposals on the pay raise-related items. The compromise proposals find common ground between many of the issues that the House and Senate are working through, including the price tag.
Compromise Proposal
This proposal offers a straightforward, linear salary schedule that allows BA-level teachers with 3-14 years of experience to earn more than under either the Senate or House plan. Teachers at the beginning and tail-end of their careers earn between what the Senate and House plans offer. This compromise proposal costs just 1.01% more than the Senate plan; offers more than twice as many raises of at least $5,000 as either plan; and would go into effect immediately for the 2022-2023 school year.
- Average Raise: $4,837
- Starting Salary Raise (BA): $5,000
- Yearly $500-$600 step raises beginning in second year
- Full raise goes into effect immediately for 2022-2023
- $2,000 raise for teacher assistants
- Estimated Annual Cost: $230,885,181
Compromise Proposal #2
This proposal offers a similar salary schedule to the Senate plan but allows teachers with 5-19 years of experience to earn more than under either the Senate or House plan. It features a higher starting salary than the Senate plan and more generous step raises than the House plan. This proposal costs about $2.5 million less than the Senate plan; offers more raises of at least $5,000 and $6,000 than either plan; and would go into effect immediately for the 2022-2023 school year.
- Average Raise: $4,730
- Starting Salary Raise (BA): $4,000
- Yearly $500 step raises beginning in second year
- $1,000-$1,500 step raises every five years
- Full raise goes into effect immediately for 2022-2023
- $2,000 raise for teacher assistants
- Estimated Annual Cost: $226,104,269
Making this teacher pay raise a reality would tangibly demonstrate how much legislators value teachers. We will be watching this situation closely, and it is likely to evolve between now and the end of the month. Please watch our blog and social media for the most up-to-date information.