Democratic state lawmakers on Thursday filed bills that would boost teacher pay and raise the minimum wage of support staff at public schools.
House Bill 1268, sponsored by House minority leader Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, would increase starting salaries for teachers from $36,000 to $50,000. The bill, dubbed the "Raising Arkansas's Investment in Schools and Educators Act," also includes a $10,000 raise for every public school teacher in the state.
Senate Minority Leader Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, filed Senate Bill 149, which would boost the minimum wage for classified staff members from $11 an hour to $15 an hour, according to a news release.
All Democrats in the Legislature are backing the bills, but with Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the governor's office and Republican super majorities in both state chambers, the legislation would require significant support from outside of the minority party to pass.
Despite party divisions, Leding noted in the release that the majority of lawmakers supported pay raises for teachers.
"Arkansas teachers are paid worse than their peers in every other southern state. With the RAISE Act, we can right this wrong and deliver a huge win for our children in Arkansas's public schools," Leding said. "We also know that our dedicated and hardworking staff, who make our schools run every day, deserve a raise. And that's exactly what our staff pay bill will do."
Starting teacher salaries for the 2020-2021 academic year were $44,527 in Texas, $42,185 in Louisiana and $36,653 in Mississippi, according to the latest available data from the National Education Association.
The $10,000 raises in McCullough's bill will cost $350 million. A one-time cost of $30 million would be needed to help districts meet the new minimum salary of $50,000, according to the release.
The raise in Leding's bill is based on a recommendation included in the educational adequacy study from the House education committee. While the study recommended raising the per-pupil foundation amounts to cover pay increases of $2 per hour for non-teachers staff, the bill proposes raising the amounts to cover $4 per hour increases, the release said.
McCullough, who worked as teacher for more than three decades, said Democrats had delivered on Sanders' request for legislation that increases teacher pay.
"The Governor said she wanted a teacher pay raise bill, because she knows the dire need of our public schools. Well, here are the two bills that will take Arkansas from the worst in the South to the very best. Let's get this done for our children and families," McCullough said in the release.
Sanders has repeatedly cited education as her top priority. But since the start of the regular session, she has called on lawmakers to deliver a single bill that is expected to encompass all of her administration's education package, known as Arkansas LEARNS.
Along with increasing teacher pay, Sanders has cited boosting literacy, empowering parents, holding educators accountable, improving student readiness, expanding high-speed internet and prioritizing school safety as her administration's priorities.
"Arkansas will reward hardworking teachers with higher pay when the legislature passes her bold education reform package, and she signs Arkansas LEARNS into law," spokeswoman Alexa Henning said Thursday.
During a news conference Thursday, Sanders said she expected more specifics on the Arkansas LEARNS bill to emerge within the next couple of weeks.
House Majority Leader Rep. Marcus Richmond, R-Harvey, and Senate Majority Leader Blake Johnson, R-Corning, said they had not yet reviewed the Democratic education bills when reached by phone Thursday afternoon.
When asked if he thought Republicans would support any education bills sponsored by Democrats, Johnson said, "I think the people have elected Republicans because that's the leadership they want."
Johnson expected the coming education bill from Republicans to be "all encompassing" and include teacher pay raises.
"We have continuously addressed teacher pay, and I can't imagine not doing that during this time," he said.
House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said during a news conference Thursday afternoon that he had not yet seen the Democratic bills but said he anticipated teacher pay would be an issue the Legislature would address in coming weeks.
While Shepherd said he didn't want to speculate about the support the Democratic bill might see in the House, he noted that legislation would require Republican consensus to pass.
"Obviously, the party with the majority has a very large say in what passes and what doesn't," he said. "More needs to be done to increase teacher pay. But I believe that is going to happen, and I believe that will happen through the efforts of the administration working with the House and the Senate."
The Senate and House education committees have suggested $4,000 teacher pay raises in their respective educational adequacy recommendations and favor increasing the annual minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $40,000 a year.
The House committee's proposal calls for the raises to begin before the end of fiscal 2023, while the Senate committee's proposal recommends waiting until fiscal 2024.
The Senate committee's recommendations also call for merit pay raises under which districts could pay more for teachers who specialize in a needed subject such as physics or incentivize teachers to stay in the classroom rather than move into higher-paying administrative jobs.
Former Gov. Asa Hutchinson declined to put teacher pay increases on the call for a special session last year after Republican lawmakers said they wanted to consider raises during this year's regular session.
Hutchinson, a Republican, had proposed increasing the minimum teacher salary to $42,000 a year and providing a $4,000 increase to every teacher for the 2022-2023 school year.
Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.