Arkansas schools compress salary schedules in response to LEARNS Act

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

Nearly a third of Arkansas school districts no longer offer pay increases for experience or additional education, an immediate result of a new state law that increased the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 a year.

The LEARNS Act increased Arkansas’ minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000 and requires all teachers to receive at least a $2,000 raise for the 2023-2024 academic year.

The law also eliminated the state’s minimum salary schedule, which required pay increases for teachers with more education and experience. But districts must create a salary schedule to receive state funding that assists with the additional teacher compensation.

Arkansas schools compress salary schedules in response to LEARNS Act

Cristina Spano For NPR

Questions continue over Arkansas teacher pay

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

When Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about the Arkansas LEARNS Act, she almost always mentions teacher pay.

“It starts by immediately offering incentives to attract and retain the best brightest teachers to Arkansas,” she said when she first introduced the bill. “Instead of being in 48th in the nation for starting teacher salary, we will now be in the top five.”

Under the law, new teachers will get $50,000 a year, a far higher base salary than even a year ago, when, according to the National Education Association, Arkansas offered on average $37,000 to first-year teachers.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-07-12/questions-continue-over-arkansas-teacher-pay

Lindsey Balbierz For NPR

As the LEARNS bill rolls out, teachers and districts experience confusion about how teacher pay provisions in the law will pan out.

LEARNS Act pays for teacher salary mandates, but districts must adjust schedules

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

Gov. Sarah Sanders’ LEARNS Act will increase beginning teacher salaries in the Bryant School District by $7,500 and give all teachers above $50,000 a raise of $2,000, but the district will have to adjust its current salary schedule.

The legislation’s sponsor says the act’s mandated raises will be funded and that school districts can create salary schedules that meet their needs.

Signed into law March 8, the LEARNS Act increases the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000 and guarantees all teachers at least a $2,000 raise.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/03/learns-act-pays-for-teacher-salary-mandates-but-districts-must-adjust-schedules/

Arkansas Democrats file legislation for teacher pay raises, per pupil funding increase

KUAR | By Ronak Patel / Talk Business & Politics

Arkansas Democrats filed legislation Thursday (Jan. 26) to raise public school teacher salaries, non-teacher staff salaries, and per pupil foundation funding for the next year.

In the House, Democrats filed HB1268, the RAISE Act, to move funds from the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education Public School Fund Account to the Department of Education for pay raises for teachers, according to the bill.

According to a press release from the Democratic Party of Arkansas, the RAISE Act will cost $350 million for teacher pay. The legislation would raise the starting salary of teachers to $50,000, up from $36,000. There is also a $10,000 raise for every public school teacher in the state.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-01-27/arkansas-democrats-file-legislation-for-teacher-pay-raises-per-pupil-funding-increase

Josie Lenora/KUAR News

House Minority Leader Tippi McCullough and Senate Minority Leader Greg Leding host a post-inauguration press conference in early January 2023.

All Democratic lawmakers call for teacher raises; governor says support still lacking

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

All 29 Arkansas Democratic legislators have signed an open letter addressed to Arkansas teachers and support staff calling for increasing their pay in the upcoming legislative session, but a spokesperson for Gov. Asa Hutchinson said not enough support yet exists for including it in the call.

The letter was signed by all seven Democratic senators and by all 22 Democratic representatives and released publicly Monday (July 18). There are 27 Republicans and one independent in the Senate and 88 Republican House members.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has announced he is calling legislators into special session Aug. 8. The primary reason is accelerating already approved tax cuts and to pass new ones with the state’s budget surplus this year totaling $1.628 billion.

https://talkbusiness.net/2022/07/all-democratic-lawmakers-call-for-teacher-raises-governor-says-support-still-lacking/

Democrat Chris Jones lays out plan to raise teacher pay to $50,000

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Against the backdrop of historic Central High School in Little Rock, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Chris Jones outlined Tuesday (July 19) a plan to raise teacher and staff pay in public schools and to close gaps on a growing teacher shortage.

Jones said the state should use up to $400 million of its $1.6 billion state surplus to provide an immediate teacher bonus, raise minimum teacher salaries this August, and raise them again by $4,000 by the end of his first term, if elected.

His plan includes:

• Paying a one-time surplus bonus for teachers and staff between $1,000-$2,500 per school employee;

• Raising minimum teacher pay to $46,000 this August;

• Raising the pay to $50,000 per year by the end of his first term; and

• Adding $4,200 in pay to those teachers and staff already making $46,000 or more.

  https://talkbusiness.net/2022/07/democrat-chris-jones-lays-out-plan-to-raise-teacher-pay-to-50000/

Chris Jones at the podium.

Budget chair says guardrails in place for accelerated tax cuts

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

State Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, says he’s comfortable accelerating tax cuts the governor wants to speed up with a $1.6 billion surplus on hand and money in a state rainy day fund, but he’s hesitant to commit to new expenses, including teacher salaries until more data is collected.

Appearing on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, Dismang said he also wants constituents to be reminded there have been other tax cuts for low- and middle-income Arkansans that have already taken place.

“We’re accelerating. We’ve already put, in fact, as far as January 1st, 2022, a low-income tax cut and a middle-income tax cut. When we combined the [tax] tables, those totaled roughly, if I remember correctly, about $150 million alone for all those individuals that were making less than $84,000 a year,” he said.

https://talkbusiness.net/2022/07/budget-chair-says-guardrails-in-place-for-accelerated-tax-cuts/

Arkansas Governor Signs Teacher Salary Increase Into Law

By STEVE BRAWNER / TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS

Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a pair of identical bills Monday that will raise the state’s median teacher salaries by $2,000 and create a fund to help lower-paying districts reach that amount.

Senate Bill 504 by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, and House Bill 1614 by Rep. Bruce Cozart, the chairs of the Senate and House Education Committees respectively, will raise the target median teacher salary to $51,822 for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. The House and Senate Committees afterwards would jointly set the statewide target median salary.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/arkansas-governor-signs-teacher-salary-increase-law

Gov. Asa Hutchinson, surrounded by Arkansas lawmakers and educators, signs the two bills into law Monday during a ceremony at the state Capitol.

CREDIT GOVERNOR'S OFFICE / YOUTUBE

LIVE VIDEO: Governor Asa Hutchinson Holds News Conference on Teacher Salary Bills (04.12.21)

Governor Asa Hutchinson will hold a news conference on Teacher Salary Bills on Monday, April 12, 2021 at 1:30​ p.m..