Ohio House budget plan would bump up minimum teacher pay from $30K to $40K

Anna Staver, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
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More than 16,000 Ohio teachers will get a pay raise if the House's version of the state budget becomes law.
More than 16,000 Ohio teachers will get a pay raise if the House's version of the state budget becomes law.

More than 16,000 Ohio teachers will get a pay raise if the House's version of the state budget becomes law.

The proposal, which was unveiled Tuesday, would increase the state's mandatory minimum salary for new teachers from $30,000 annually to $40,000−an increase of 33%.

"We feel teaching our children is an incredibly important task and should be a higher minimum salary than what was in current law," Rep. Jay Edwards, R-Nelsonville, said.

Edwards spearheaded the budget-writing process for the Ohio House and said the idea had strong support among those in charge of drafting the 5,300-page budget bill.

"The evidence both from our personal lives and the data is pretty clear that there is nothing more important for educating a child than the quality of their teachers," Rep. Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said. "And we underpay them."

He thought the base salary for new teachers could go even higher, something the teacher's unions have advocated for. The Ohio Education Association recommended going to $50,000 annually.

But OEA President Scott DiMauro was "very appreciative of House leadership choosing to include this."

DiMauro's union represents about 580 of Ohio's 611 school districts, and in 2021, members from 561 districts reported that 62% had starting salaries below $40,000.

"We were advocating for a starting salary of $50,000," DiMauro said. "But this is a very strong step in the right direction."

And he thinks it could help with staffing shortages around the state.

"Salary certainly is one issue that pops when people are deciding whether to leave the profession," Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said.

At the federal level, Democrats introduced legislation in February to help states raise their starting salaries to a minimum of $60,000 annually.

It's called the American Teacher Act, and it would direct the federal government to create four-year grants for states looking to enact this new minimum starting in fiscal 2024. It would not mandate teacher raises, though.

Anna Staver and Laura Bischoff are reporters for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio House would raise new teacher base pay by 33%