SC Senate’s plan to set teacher starting pay below $40K is disappointing, advocacy group says
The starting pay for South Carolina teachers would see a smaller increase than many have hoped for, even as taxes across the state could be lowered, under a proposal backed by a panel of state senators this week.
Rather than raising teacher pay across the board to a minimum $40,000 salary, Senate budget writers propose increasing base teacher pay to $38,000, up from the current $36,000 base. The proposal goes against teacher groups, outgoing S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman and members of the S.C. House, who all have advocated for raising minimum pay to $40,000.
At least one senator argued that the smaller proposed raise for teachers will help the state balance its budget, even as state lawmakers are committed to a statewide income tax cut that would keep between $600 million and $1 billion out of state coffers over the next fiscal year.
“We’re not setting teacher pay, we’re setting base teacher pay, and the districts will be able to do whatever they wish to do based on the resources they have,” said state Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester.
“The goal is to achieve all of our objectives while putting together a balanced budget,” Bennett added. “The $38,000 makes sense. There’s not a whole lot of districts paying less than that anyway.”
State Sen. Kevin Johnson, D-Clarendon, was the only member of the Senate Finance panel to vote against the change to $38,000, pointing to how some thought it would be an across the board $4,000 raise for teachers, which is not the case.
Johnson also pointed to how Mississippi is moving to set their starting teacher pay to more than $41,500.
“I thought we should have at least kept ours at $40,000,” Johnson said.
Under the potential Senate plan, only 25 school districts would see a required pay increase. The raise would not be mandated for all teachers if a school district is already above the base salary schedule, which pays teachers based on experience and education level.
The House plan, meanwhile, would ensure pay increases in 50 of the state’s 77 school districts, which have a starting pay of less than $40,000.
Increasing teacher pay has been a part of the effort to fill teacher vacancies in the state, which have increased to more than 1,100 open spots during this school year.
Patrick Kelly, director of governmental affairs for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, said he is disappointed Senate budget writers want to scale back from the $40,000 a year starting pay proposal, saying the higher level would help recruit teachers to work in the state.
“We believe that in the year 2022, if you’re going to attract great talent, you’re going to have to compensate them. This isn’t just true in education. It’s in all sectors,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to compete, and moving the state minimum backwards from $40,000 to $38,000 isn’t going to get things done.”
Gov. Henry McMaster initially pushed for raising teachers’ starting salary to $38,000, without mandating an across-the-board raise for all teachers.
The smaller pay increase comes as the Senate has proposed a $1 billion tax cut this year. The Senate’s tax cut, which also is paired with a proposed a $1 billion rebate, would keep more money out of state coffers this year than a plan approved by the House.
The House’s competing tax cut proposal would cost the state about $600 million the first year, but eventually reach $1 billion as the top income tax rate is further reduced to 6%.
“It’s not necessarily an either/or proposition because that tax cut impacts every South Carolinian and not just teachers,” Kelly said. “But the teacher salary has to go up. Even the proposed income tax cut in the Senate and in the House would not save teachers enough money on their paycheck to offset what they should gain through a meaningful raise because teachers are not in the highest tax bracket that is experiencing a lot of the cuts under the proposed packages.”
Senate budget writers, who are expected to finalize their spending proposal this week before sending it to the full chamber for consideration, plan to spend an additional $227 million on public schools, which is same amount of money the House planned to spend on public schools.
Rather than putting more money toward teacher pay raises, the panel of senators want to distribute the additional money in a different way, ensuring all schools receive at the same amount of money they received last year and putting additional money toward career and technology training, special needs and English language learners, among other things, while also giving school districts increased flexibility in how they spend the money. The plan will also require increased transparency in how districts spend their money.
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 1:46 PM with the headline "SC Senate’s plan to set teacher starting pay below $40K is disappointing, advocacy group says."
