State Board of Education supports bill to raise teacher pay
Idaho lawmakers are discussing a plan to increase teachers’ salaries.
The career ladder is one of the major recommendations made by the governor’s task force to improve education in Idaho.
“Most people in this state recognize that we need to increase teacher pay. And that’s the basic part of this bill that makes sense for everybody, the fact that we’re going to make an effort to increase teacher pay across the board,” said Emma Atchley, chairman of the State Board of Education.
The goal is to bring teachers’ salaries to a rate competitive with other states to keep high quality teachers in Idaho.
The new bill would require teachers to hit benchmarks set by the state to receive higher pay.
Although the bill legislators are discussing is a little bit different from what the school board initially proposed, the board is still supportive.
“We think it’s a major step forward. We would like to have had it a little more, a little closer to what the board had recommended. We’ll take what we get, so to speak,” Atchley said.
The board’s recommendations had three levels: a residency program, a professional level and a master level. The Legislature’s version doesn’t include the master level.
