Arkansas House panel OKs recommendations to boost teacher salaries by $4,000

Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountin View, asks a question during the joint House and Senate education committee meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, at the state Capitol in Little Rock. 
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)
Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountin View, asks a question during the joint House and Senate education committee meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, at the state Capitol in Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Thomas Metthe)

Members of the House Education Committee approved a plan Tuesday to raise teachers' salaries in Arkansas by $4,000, but whether the proposal will be adopted is uncertain as lawmakers in the House and Senate are divided over the details.

The recommendation includes raising the minimum annual teacher salary from $36,000 to $40,000 to boost recruitment and retention efforts. But any possible legislation to approve teacher pay increases is still months away from approval with the General Assembly not scheduled to convene again until January.

While members of the House Education Committee approved the plan, a majority of their Senate colleagues voted it down with the potential that the two committees will offer differing proposals to raise teacher pay.

"This is just a recommendation, it could all change completely in January," said state Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View.

The recommendations are an end to a more than nine-month process that takes place every other year, where lawmakers review the status of education in Arkansas and make recommendations to make education more equitable.

Since June, increasing teachers' salaries has become a top issue for many in the state with proposals from the governor and lobbying from educators who said the profession has become increasingly demanding in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.

After a report of a $1.6 billion budget surplus, Gov. Asa Hutchinson called a special session in August to accelerate a $500 million tax cut. Hutchinson also called for raising teacher salaries but did not include it on the call for the session. Supporters of increasing teacher pay said school districts have difficulty retaining and recruiting teachers, particularly in the Delta, the poorest region of the state.

Democrats and some Republican state lawmakers -- mostly in the House -- pushed for a bill to increase teacher pay during the special session in August. Instead, the GOP-controlled General Assembly decided to wait for the adequacy study and recommendations from the House and Senate education committees.

"Maintaining competitive salaries remains a vital component of educational adequacy, and today's discussion and recommendation was a step in the right direction," Arkansas Secretary of Education Johnny Key said in a statement. "I know there will be ongoing conversations between the House and the Senate before all recommendations are finalized by November 1, and the department is happy to provide information as needed to the committee members."

To get to the $4,000 raise, the House plan calls for a change to the state's educational funding formula, also known as the matrix. The matrix outlines average funding for school districts based on a size of 500 students. But school districts are given wide discretion in how they choose to use state funding. Legislators have until Nov. 1 to submit a plan on improving education in the state to the governor.

To ensure school districts can afford the raises, the House plan calls for increasing supplemental funding for salaries from $25 million in the fiscal year 2022 to $52 million in the fiscal year 2023. The enhanced salary supplemental funding will increase to $60 million in the fiscal year 2024.

The plan also calls for increases in health insurance funding for teachers from $2,814 in the fiscal year 2022 to $3,667 the fiscal year 2023. Health insurance benefits will increase to $3,802 and be tied to the medical consumer price index.

The increase in benefits is meant to offset taxes, retirement contributions and increased health insurance premiums so teachers' net salary increase is about $4,000, said state Rep. Brian Evans, R-Cabot. Evans said the House pay increase plan, which he helped author, will make teachers' salaries more competitive with other professions.

"I don't know if there's a silver bullet or a perfect number that is just going to satisfy the opinions of everyone in this room, but that was just the recommendation that I personally had based upon feedback that I was able to gather over the last several months," Evans said.

House Education Committee Chair Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, said his committee's work is done and he expects the House to approve it in the next session.

Irvin, who is chair of the Senate Education Committee, said "there were some great ideas that unfortunately did not get incorporated in the House [plan]."

Irvin, along with most senators at Tuesday's meeting, voted against the House plan but said she agreed with the proposed $4,000 raise and $40,000 minimum salary, but suggested the pay increase should be pushed back a year.

Irvin said she also wanted to give more flexible funding to school districts so they could pay teachers in more desired subjects, such as math or physics, more.

"I just want to get this right and do what's right in how [it compares to] what our neighboring states have done," Irvin said. "And do it in a way that fits in our budget and our ongoing future budget."

State Rep. Reginald Murdock spoke for many Democrats on the two committees when he said the $40,000 minimum salary was not enough. Instead, Murdoch and other Democrats pushed for a $46,000 annual minimum salary that Hutchinson proposed in June.

"It's up to us, we're the money spenders," said Murdock, a Democrat from Marianna. "Let's show our people that we truly support them, we truly support education."

Murdoch criticized lawmakers for supporting a $500 million tax cut the General Assembly passed in August but not going far enough to address teacher pay.

"We cut taxes to the tune of hundreds of millions [of dollars] -- that's done," Murdock said. "Now we have the funds here. We need to do more."

Sen. Joyce Elliot, D-Little Rock, said the House needs to fund more than what is perceived to be "affordable," saying the proposed salary increases would still put Arkansas behind neighboring states.

"If we know that we are not even competitive at the regional level, I don't know how we can call that adequate," Elliot said.


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