SC teacher pay raise proposal favors newest teachers. Here’s who would see biggest raises

Teachers in the state would be paid at least $47,000 a year, up from $42,500, under a spending plan approved Wednesday by the South Carolina House budget writing committee.

House budget writers want to spend $230 million more on state aid to classrooms, which pays for teacher salaries, a move that would increase the state starting teacher salary by $4,500.

Gov. Henry McMaster has said he wants to bring the starting salary up to $50,000 by 2026.

The $4,500 pay raise to the starting salary is part of a $13.19 billion spending plan proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The spending plan includes only $660 million of new annual money that is expected to be available and can be used for programming and salaries.

Budget writers did not include a $4,500 pay raise to every cell of the state’s minimum salary schedule, which pays teachers based off of years of experience and education level. The budget proposal does include money to give every teacher a raise.

The state’s minimum salary schedule would extend to 28 years from 23 years, under the Ways and Means proposal.

The plan won’t require extending teacher’s annual contracts by five work days, an idea floated State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver in order to provide additional professional training.

The House plan also does not include reducing the number of lanes for years of continuing education credit on the teacher salary schedule from five lanes to two, an idea pushed by McMaster.

State Rep. Bill Whitmire, R-Oconee, said the Ways and Means Committee preferred not to go that route.

Ways and Means, however, narrowed the pay differentials between the lanes and is using an incremental approach to reducing the salary schedule lanes over the next few years.

Paying teachers more is meant to help address the growing teacher shortage in the state.

When the school year began, more than 1,613 teaching positions in the state were vacant, up from 1,474 teaching positions at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.

All teachers would receive a raise in the plan, but the money is focused on those early in their career.

“As most all of you know, we’re having a problem retaining teachers in our first five years and so the majority of this money is going to be aimed towards the front end of the education level,” said Whitmire, who oversees public education spending on the House Ways and Means Committee.

“I don’t know if money is the entire reason, and it probably isn’t,” Whitmire said in an interview. “But ... some of these districts a few years ago, were just $30,000 (a year). That’s not a living wage. So that’s why we’re trying to increase this on the front end.”

Districts do have the option to pay teachers above the state’s minimum salary schedule.

The teacher pay proposal and the entire House Ways and Means budget proposal still need to be approved by the full House, go through the Senate, and be signed by the governor.

“This budget that we’re passing today is the first step in a very long process. It will look something like the final product but it will not be the final product,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister. “We know there’s a lot of give and take from this point forward, but I think what we’ve crafted is a great start. “

The Palmetto State Teachers Association applauded the move made by House budget writers.

“PSTA believes more work needs to be done in future budgets to achieve Gov. McMaster’s stated desire to provide salaries of at least $50,000 for all teachers by no later than 2026, but the increase in starting minimum salaries in this budget is a meaningful commitment and investment on the part of the Ways and Means Committee,” said Patrick Kelly, the director of governmental affairs for the PSTA.

Salary increases by education level

Every teacher would receive a raise under the House Ways and Means proposal, but the percentage increase is larger for those with a less continuing education.

▪ Bachelors degree: 9.1% increase.

▪ Bachelors plus 18 hours of continuing education: 5.1% increase.

▪ Masters degree: 4.8% increase.

▪ Masters degree plus 30 hours of continuing education: 2.1% increase.

▪ Doctorate degree: 1% increase.