Idaho Education Board Proposes Big Raise for Teachers
The State Board of Education wants to give Idaho teachers a big raise, but it's not a done deal, yet. A couple years ago, the Governor's Task Force on Education, a bipartisan group of stakeholders from across the state, said Idaho was losing too many teachers to other states and professions with higher wages. So, they put together a plan to pay teachers more. The Board worked with the Task Force for two years to create a proposal that the Board unanimously approved Thursday morning. The plan would increase pay from $31,750 to $40,000 for beginning teachers, and from $47,000 to $58,000 for teachers at the top level. But, it wouldn't be immediate. There would be incremental annual raises over five years. Even though the average Idaho salary for all jobs is about $30,000, board members say this needs to be done to attract and keep great teachers, who also have much higher education than the average Idahoan, The cost for the state in the first year, with benefits, would be $28 million. All this is pending legislative approval. The two plans will go before the Legislature next session.