Local administrators weigh in on potential raises for teachers

When the Idaho Legislature passed House Bill 1 last September, school districts and their administrators across the state were relieved that the legislators were putting an emphasis on funding schools.

The $1 billion dollar spending bill wasn’t solely focused on education as it provided tax relief for Idaho citizens in several different ways – however, $330 million of it was earmarked for annual transfer from the state’s sales tax collection into a K-12 public school fund.

The determination for how that money would be spent and allocated was tabled for the 2023 legislative session – which ended on March 31.

In mid-March, the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) approved a $378.6 million increase in state general fund spending for public schools. That includes $145 million that goes directly to school districts and charter schools to provide all of their teachers with a potential $6,359 raise.

Idaho Governor Brad Little would like to see entry-level teacher salaries increase to $47,477 annually – part of the driving force behind the raises. However, salaries and pay are negotiated and handled at the local level.

At the local level, educators in the Silver Valley have historically lamented their inability to pay teachers enough to retain them – oftentimes losing teachers to bigger districts like nearby Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and Lakeland.

Wallace School District superintendent Todd Howard explained how the increased funding will help bump up that entry-level pay as opposed to just providing certified staff with a raise.

“The increase of $6,359 is part of the state’s funding formula called the career ladder,” Howard explained. “The career ladder is set up to provide districts funding for their certified staff (teachers). There are specific guidelines in the career ladder legislation that provides specific funding for staff based on their career ladder placement, education, and qualifications. The legislation also sets specific minimum pay levels for teachers.”

Since the minimum rate of pay for certified staff in Idaho was $40,742 for the 2022-23 school year, the increase puts that minimum pay just over the $47,000 threshold that Gov. Little hopes to see.

However, Howard also mentioned that anything regarding the increase in funds is tied directly to each district’s full-time equivalent (FTE) in relation to the average daily attendance.

According to Howard, the Wallace School District employs 44 certified staff – but the district’s FTE is somewhere between 28-30. This means that funding will not be received for those 14-16 ‘additional’ staff members.

“The actual teacher raise will be dependent on the cost to the district to increase the salary to the new state minimum, the cost of other state required minimum numbers, and what is left from the new funds,” Howard said. “It is very unlikely that every teacher in the district will see an increase of $6,359.”

While that might sound discouraging, local districts are welcoming the increase – Mullan School District superintendent Les Wells was candid about the need to pay his teacher more.

“The teaching profession is just that, a profession,” Wells said. “Most people have to attend a four-year college to get a teaching degree. When they come out they are faced with debt and they look for where they afford to live. When they look at Idaho salaries compared to some of our neighboring states we lose great teachers to other states.”

For comparison, the average entry-level teacher salary for a public school teacher in Washington State is over $45,000.

The biggest question for communities is whether or not this funding will stay available from the state and not fall to the districts to figure out in the future.

The initial verbiage of House Bill 1, stated that the money would be allocated annually – but there are some, including Kellogg School District superintendent Lance Pearson, who want to see it before they believe it.

“The state has gone on record indicating these raises will be permanently funded by the state. However, the state of Idaho does not meet its Constitutional obligation to ‘establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools’ because all of our state-allocated school monies inadequately fund our schools,” Pearson said. “This requires us to run local levies in order to meet our requirements – This increase in teacher salaries could adversely affect districts and their levies because so many districts have teachers that are funded through levy monies.”

However, Pearson did state that (at least in the KSD) teachers should see a pay increase for the 2023-2024 school year.

For more information, contact your local school district administration.