Senate Education Committee approves package to boost teacher pay, equalize ESA funding and create task forces

The Senate Education Committee on an unspecified date approved a package of recommendations intended to move school funding "from adequacy to excellence," including a $4,000 raise to the minimum teacher salary, additional staffing for special education and computer science, and a plan to equalize Enhanced Student Achievement (ESA) funding across schools, the committee chair said.

The chair said the draft report proposes raising the minimum teacher base salary from $36,000 to $40,000 beginning in fiscal year 2024 (noted in the draft as 07/01/2023) and includes draft legislation to implement the increase. The package also calls for one full-time FTE for computer science teachers for grades 1–12 to meet a new graduation requirement and raises the special education teacher FTE allocation from 2.9 to 3.3 to address student needs.

Senator Stearch, who spoke to the ESA changes, said the committee adopted the APA recommendation to equalize ESA funding by tying it to foundation funding with a 12% weight and phasing the change in over four years to avoid abrupt funding 'cliffs.' "We're trying to treat it as the same as a multiplier to help the schools in an equal way," Senator Stearch said, describing the phase-in and the goal of making funding more stable for districts regardless of local poverty concentrations.

The package also creates a merit teacher incentive categorical fund, scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2025, that the report authors said would allow districts to reward teachers for effectiveness, demand and experience. The chair described $70,000,000 allocated to that categorical line; under one scenario discussed, the merit funding could support an additional $2,000 for eligible teachers, in combination with the base raise.

Committee members discussed other funding and technical items in the report. The chair said professional development funding is held at $16,500,000 in both years and that many non-teacher items would increase by the CPI-U (1.84% for fiscal year 2024 and 2.16% for fiscal year 2025) following BLR guidance. The report recommends using the medical CPI-U to set school district health insurance contribution rates, citing work by the Seagull group.

Senator Beckham moved to include a BLR report showing per-pupil expenditures and non-matrix resources in the committee report; the committee approved that motion by voice vote. Beckham summarized the BLR tables, saying the bottom 5% of districts spend roughly $7 per pupil on kindergarten while the top 5% spend about $548 per pupil, and argued the spending differences help explain outcome disparities.

Senator Chesterfield pressed whether classified staff baseline pay was raised and criticized the size of the increases for classified employees, calling a proposed $2 increase inadequate and saying, "If you start out behind, you stay behind." The chair and other members responded that an additional $2 for classified employees is included and that the package also increases the portion districts contribute toward classified employees' health insurance in the spreadsheet reviewed by members.

Senator English said she supported the task-force approach to study the funding model but reiterated she had long pushed for an across-the-board $4,000 pay increase sooner. The chair and others said the task force is intended to study funding mechanisms, small-district inequities and other structural reforms outside the statutory adequacy study.

Votes at a glance: The committee approved two committee-level actions by voice vote: the inclusion of the BLR per-pupil expenditure report in the committee report and the motion to pass the section 21 recommendations (which encompassed the $4,000 base raise, FTE changes, the merit teacher incentive fund, ESA equalization and task-force authorizations). The motions were moved by Senator Beckham, seconded and approved by voice.

The chair said staff will continue work on draft legislation and that the committee aims to finalize its report for submission to the president pro tem by November 1, according to the draft schedule. The meeting concluded with a personal-privilege comment from a member who said she felt excluded from earlier drafting conversations; the chair then adjourned the committee.